Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Cordant Services enters shopping centre market with Capital & Regional Contract
Cordant Services, part of Cordant Group, has been awarded a three-year contract to deliver a soft services solution across eight UK shopping centres managed by Capital & Regional, the specialist community shopping centre property investment company.
This significant business win represents the first time Cordant Services will provide solutions to the shopping centre market, building on its longstanding and successful presence within the wider retail sector.
Under the terms of the deal, Cordant Services will provide a specialist range of cleaning and security solutions at The Mall in Blackburn, Kingfisher Shopping Centre in Redditch, Exchange in Ilford, The Marlowes in Hemel Hempstead, The Mall in Luton, The Mall in Walthamstow, The Mall in Wood Green and The Mall in Maidstone. At each site, the company will deliver a guest experience service that comprises a manned guarding solution, CCTV monitoring and traditional cleaning services and a number of Guest Experience Hosts, who will be responsible for driving an enhanced guest journey for shoppers and other visitors.
A total of 380 employees will work across the eight sites, of which around 340 transferred to Cordant Services under TUPE in February 2019. Each member of staff will also receive additional training as required.
Cordant Services secured the contract following a competitive tender process that initially featured 12 service providers. Key decision makers were impressed by Group's decision to become a Social Enterprise Business in 2017.
As part of its commitment to helping the various local communities, Cordant Services will establish a specialist hub within each shopping centre where it will advertise regional employment opportunities, host career workshops, offer free training and advice, CV reviews and hold mock interviews. The company will also provide health and wellbeing information and organise seminars and roundtables for SMEs to encourage networking between local businesses.
"During the tender process we were thoroughly impressed by Cordant's approach to social responsibility and its support for the communities it works within," explains Kate Thursfield at Capital & Regional.
"The hubs within each centre will not only increase collaboration between local businesses, bring people from the community together and create a family friendly environment, but they will boost consumer footfall and attract more retailers. This approach, combined with its exemplary track record in delivering industry-leading cleaning and security services, made them an obvious choice for us."
Guy Pakenham, managing director at Cordant Cleaning, says: "Following many successful years working with some of the UK's most established retailers, we have now taken this opportunity to enter the shopping centre market. Our flexibility, experience and extensive resources puts us in a very strong position to make a significant impact within this space. We look forward to working very closely with the Capital & Regional team to develop a partnership that delivers real benefits across the board.
"Since becoming a Social Enterprise Business we have helped thousands of temporary staff find permanent positions, enrolled hundreds of staff on apprenticeship programmes and achieved our status as a Disability Confident Employer, plus much more. This important contract will help us to build on this success and we are excited to be helping local people from each individual community."
28th March 2019