Hard FM Services Case Study at Royal Arsenal Riverside in London

Artic Building Services has been in a successful partnership with Royal Arsenal Riverside for over six years, delivering proactive and dependable hard facilities management since 2019. Royal Arsenal Riverside is a high-end residential estate in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London. Owned by Berkeley Group, their vision is to provide high-quality homes where strong communities and unique cultures can thrive. The idyllic environment is set on the bank of the River Thames and boasts a picturesque view of central London. Artic was awarded the hard FM services partnership after a competitive tender and has since built a robust and collaborative relationship that has grown over the years that Royal Arsenal Riverside continues to choose Artic as it’s London-based hard FM provider.

Artic takes ownership of all communal spaces and areas that support creating a comfortable environment for the Royal Arsenal Riverside community. From plant rooms to all electrical services, Artic supports the Royal Arsenal Riverside estates team in maintaining a safe and vibrant space for those living in the residential estate.

Facilities Challenges at Royal Arsenal

Before working with Artic Building Services for its hard facilities management services across the estate, Royal Arsenal Riverside found their current solution to be inefficient for the type of service the space required. Their estate team found themselves having to chase planned preventative maintenance (PPM) to be completed, quotes for outstanding works and overall found they were unable to rely on the incumbent service to take a proactive and dependable approach with their facilities on site. With the estate being a residential site, the speed of which hard FM works are carried out is crucial to the estate team. It is critical that issues are identified and carried out with a quick turn-around to ensure the comfort of the residents isn’t impacted in any of the site’s communal areas. This meant that it was essential for Royal Arsenal Riverside to partner with an experienced facilities management company # to ensure they understood the criticality of the works on the estate.

A unique part of Royal Arsenal is it’s closed-protocol systems. This meant that they needed to find a London hard FM service company that has the technical experience and expertise to manage the system effectively. With the age of the assets on site, it means that Artic needs to continuously find new practical solutions for when parts become obsolete without compromising the compliance and efficiency of the assets across the site.

“Artic have been a trusted and highly dependable partner to Royal Arsenal Riverside for over six years. Their on-site team, led by David Needs, consistently delivers a proactive, technically competent, and solution-focused service across our estate’s complex and varied assets.” – Royal Arsenal Riverside Facilities Management Team 

Scope of Works

Artic is contracted to manage all Hard FM services in the communal areas and plant rooms across the residential village through both maintenance and PPM reactive works. The expert team of on-site engineers and dedicated contract management team manages:

• All estate electrical systems
• Fire Alarm Systems
• Smoke Extract Systems
• Gas Detection Systems
• Vesda Systems
• Substations
• External Lighting, including exterior lamp posts
• Fire Systems across site, open and closed protocol
• Variety of Pump systems
• Estate Generators
• Various Water Treatment Systems

Specialist Maintenance Services:

• Steam Rooms
• Saunas
• Pool Pipework
• Ground Work
• 4-8inch ABS and Sopper Pipe
• Servicing on EV Chargers
• Water Proofing

Outside of contracted statutory compliance maintenance services, the Artic team have also assisted Royal Arsenal in various projects to upgrade equipment across the site. This includes the complete upgrade of an eight-panel fire alarm system with full commissioning and a full LED lighting upgrade on the estate to assist the client with making energy savings and reducing their carbon footprint.

“The engineers demonstrate strong ownership of the communal areas and plant rooms, providing rapid response times, clear communication, and high first-time fix rates. Their ability to navigate our closed-protocol systems and ageing infrastructure has been invaluable, and their support has materially improved both compliance and operational reliability across the estate.” – Royal Arsenal Riverside Facilities Management Team

Solution:

To meet the unique requirements of the site, Artic has an on-site team of experienced hard FM service engineers to ensure quick fault repair turnaround and de-escalation. Through extensive site knowledge, the team of specialist engineers implement effective cost-savings for the estate through quick diagnosis and expert engineering solutions for the unique equipment on site. Artic’s dedicated Contract Manager, David Needs, visits Royal Arsenal Riverside twice a week to oversee the productivity on site and act as a point of contact for both Artic’s engineers and the estate team, as well as attending weekly meetings with the estate facilities management team to keep everyone up to date on site activities.

Artic provides the right engineers for the right job to ensure high first-time fix rates and a reduction of repeat visits for any faults. To support high levels of communication dedicated site team is backed up with 24/7/365 access to the Artic support desk, but through a trusted relationship with the Artic residential team, Royal Arsenal Riverside knows it can rely on them in, and out, of hours for any urgent matters. Artic takes a flexible and dedicated approach for its clients, creating malleable solutions that adapt to the needs of every estate.

Benefits to the Solution

The facilities estate teams at Royal Arsenal Riverside appreciates Artic’s ability to take accountability for the facilities on site. The team has a proactive and professional approach through efficient communications and adaptable solutions. By providing a dynamic solution, the partnership has grown and exceeded initial expectations of the service Artic was going to deliver.

By having a dedicated team on site, the engineers are able to attend faults within the hour. With faster fault fix and diagnoses and a hands-on approach, Artic saves the client time and effort in overseeing the estates facilities, providing the Royal Arsenal Riverside estate team with the confidence to leave their facilities in the hands of Artic with minimal intervention. Through its partnership with Artic, Royal Arsenal Riverside is also able to have the benefit of Artic’s preferential rates from wholesalers which in turn creates efficient cost-savings for their site when it comes to repairing and replacing equipment.

Outside of hard FM services, Artic has also been a dedicated partner in supporting Royal Arsenal Village in their social value initiatives in their community. Artic supported their Christmas Fair initiative which raised money for a local charity Home Start Greenwich. The Artic team supplied prizes for a community raffle and hosted a variety of activities alongside the RAF Sidecar Team for the community as part of the fair. Overall, the event was a great success and Artic was glad to work with Royal Arsenal Riverside in supporting their local community.

‘The partnership is strengthened by Artic’s dedicated contract management, regular site presence, and collaborative approach with our internal team. They have also successfully delivered several upgrade projects, offering practical and cost-efficient solutions that enhance the long-term resilience of our equipment. Artic continues to be a reliable, professional, and innovative hard FM provider, and their contribution has been instrumental in maintaining the high standards expected at Royal Arsenal Riverside.” – The Royal Arsenal Riverside Facilities Management Team

 

Conclusion:

Overall, Artic strives to provide a malleable and dedicated service that changes with the needs of the site. Committed to ensuring Royal Arsenal Riverside receives efficient and effective support for their facilities, our engineers use their active knowledge of the site to optimise service delivery and ensure an adaptable approach for all works.

Looking for hard FM services that you don’t need to worry about? Partner with Artic to secure your complex site with the right building services team and optimise your equipment.

Contact us today.