Month: March 2021

The Education sector has always been a really important part of our business and we have developed some great relationships with a number of education providers across Yorkshire over recent years.

So, there is nothing better when these customers tell us how pleased they are with our high-quality service and want to continue to work with us! Firstly, Athelstan Primary in Sheffield has recently renewed their contract with us. We have worked with them since 2012 to help keep the school up and running with essential planned, and reactive, maintenance including gas safety checks, lighting protection inspection, CCTV Service, water hygiene and checking the outdoor play equipment. Find out more about how we work with Bev Shaw, the school’s business manager, here.

We have also extended our six-year relationship with Ballifield Primary School, also in Sheffield. We will continue to work with the school to help keep the building safe for all its students and staff delivering reactive and planned maintenance and ensuring they are up to date with all statutory regulations. Please read more about that here

And make sure you watch this space for more exciting education news soon!

In other areas of the business, we are also very pleased to now be working with Certex, a long-standing Doncaster business that sells and distributes heavy lifting gear. Certex had been looking for a new, local company support them with their planned and reactive maintenance, and we were really pleased to win the contract. It’s been great to get to know them over the last couple of months and you can find out more about what we have been up to with them here.

In addition, we are now providing a facilities management service to Doncaster Business Innovation Centre and working with Keepmoat Homes where we have a planned and reactive maintenance contract as well as completing some important installation and upgrade works.
Here at Signum, we have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to continue providing vital facilities management services and, with now light at the end of the tunnel, we’re so pleased to be working with all our customers, old and new, as we look forward to a bright future ahead.

*Image courtesy of http://alphastockimages.com/

We’re excited to announce that we’re now working with heavy lifting solutions group Certex after being appointed as facilities management provider for its Doncaster headquarters.

Here, divisional manager, Patrick Cummins, shares how Signum has been supporting the company in this new partnership.

At Certex, we provide steel wire rope, lifting equipment and services to customers in the industrial, oil and gas, renewable and elevator markets. We have sites across the UK, including in Doncaster where I am based.

We’ve used facilities management companies in the past but not always got the results we were looking for so I was keen to find a local organisation who could be responsive and deliver what we needed.

After a quick search we came across Signum and were pleased with their approach and costings so appointed them earlier this year to deliver full reactive and planned maintenance such as legionella checks, fire alarm checks, building inspection, emergency lighting checks, heating and boiler inspections and lift inspections.

We’ve been really impressed so far, and Signum has worked on installing a new kitchen, dealing quickly with a leak and problems with sliding doors, and the tidying up of electrical cables. The whole team is friendly, courteous and professional.

I am busy with my day job so don’t have the time to deal with building issues that can crop up but with one call to Signum, it’s sorted. It is a service that saves a lot of time and we’ve been very happy with the transition and work done so far.

Signum are easy to deal with and use an online portal for all work that Certex needs, so the process is streamlined and definitely working how it should be.

Jill Wood, managing director of Signum Facilities Management, shares information about new landlord guidance being introduced this April.

From 1 April, new landlord regulations will come into force, which are centred around levelling up electrical safety in rented properties. Although most landlords are proactive with safety matters for their tenants, a minority fail to do so which can put tenants at risk.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR LANDLORDS?

The guidance states that landlords are required to have their property inspected and tested at least every five years by a qualified and competent person. This ensures that national standards for electrical safety are met.

Alongside this test, they also need to submit a copy of this electrical safety report to their tenants within 28 days or prior to a new tenant occupying the property, and to their local authority if requested.

It also requires any remedial or further investigative works to be completed within 28 days of the inspection, ensuring that landlords act on the findings of the reports as proof of compliance.

The regulations were introduced on 1 June 2020 and apply to new tenancies dated from 1 July 2020 onwards. The 1 April date is when the requirements will apply to existing tenancies.

HOW WE CAN HELP

The inspection should be carried out by a competent and qualified person which we can help with. By getting in touch with us, we can offer a thorough inspection of a property and our competency can be verified on the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC) website.

It is vital that landlords adhere to this important legislation and by using a reputable company such as Signum you can have peace of mind that the inspection has been carried out correctly and that your tenants will be safe in your property.

For more information on the new guidance, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector-guidance-for-landlords-tenants-and-local-authorities/guide-for-landlords-electrical-safety-standards-in-the-private-rented-sector

For more information, please call our team on 01302 340 695.

We work with many schools across the region to support their facilities management, which is essential to maintain the smooth running of these vital buildings where our little ones learn.

Here, Mark D’Apice, school manager at Ballifield Primary School in Sheffield, shares how we work with them to help keep the school fully operational with expert maintenance.

We’ve been working with Signum for approximately six years now after I was recommended to the company by a colleague.

Signum carries out all of the Ballifield Primary School’s reactive and planned maintenance, ensuring we are up to date with all statutory regulations such as asbestos management, legionella planning and gas servicing. Signum really does everything to help keep the building safe for all its students and staff.

Our relationship with the company is easy and effortless. We agree a schedule of activity with Signum at the beginning of each year, which they then carry out for us and always do a great job.

We have found Signum to be cost effective and very reactive when we need something done quickly. They make my life and that of the school so much easier as they just get on with the jobs required. I would really recommend them to others because of their personal and responsive service. We really enjoy working with them.

Working with schools across South Yorkshire to meet their facilities management needs is a really important part of the work we do at Signum.

Here, in our latest guest blog, Bev Shaw, who is the business manager at Athelstan Primary School in Sheffield, gives us an insight into how Signum helps keep her school up and running with essential planned, and reactive, maintenance.

We have been working with Signum Facilities Management since 2012 and have always found the team to be so helpful.

As a busy school with hundreds of staff and pupils, ensuring the health and safety of our school building and facilities are up to standard is vital and that’s why Signum provide a planned maintenance service to us. This year it includes a gas safety check for both school and our caretaker’s house, lighting protection inspection, CCTV Service, water hygiene, TMV servicing, Display Energy Certificate and checking our outdoor play equipment.

Over the years, they have carried out many projects for us, including replacing most of our internal fire doors on a rolling programme, legionella risk assessment and a fixed electrical service which is needed every every five years.
On a reactive and emergency basis they are outstanding. We recently had an issue with our hot water, and we had an engineer who services our boiler out to us within the hour.

If any issues are found in either planned services or reactive issues, we are quickly provided with a written quote to correct the problems.

I really like how Signum is flexible with the service they provide which allows me to pick and choose what I need to include on an annual basis as requirements do change year on year.

The team are lovely and very approachable and really go the extra mile to help us when needed. They also provide a good service and I know I can speak to them at any time. It’s good to have trusted relationships with a key team who know us and we know them.

I would definitely recommend Signum and I have! I hope they keep going for years to come.