This month in FMJ our Chief Executive, Keith Chanter, features in an interview by Sarah Bean on the successful strategy of organic growth he’s led since taking on the CEO role twelve years ago.

It’s been a journey of transformation from, as he puts it ‘pretty desperate straits’ when he first joined to one that has seen EMCOR UK out-perform the market; growing in revenue by £80+ million and employing over 1000 more people in the last three years.

The interview looks back to the 2008 financial crisis, where he describes how many organisations outsourcing FM at that time went for the lowest cost provider. And yet 3-5 years later at renewal, they were understandably dissatisfied because they were unable to get what they wanted in terms of service. Since that time, EMCOR UK has been quietly growing because, as he puts it; “We didn’t drop our standards, or trade on a cost-only basis, so instead of lowering costs we focused on developing collaborative business relationships in order to deliver value.”

It’s been an unrelenting focus on delivering value and the very highest customer service that has served our business so well. Obviously, there are many other contributing factors – not least the importance of investing in our people through training and development. Another aspect contributing to success has been our values and how we treat colleagues with fairness, inclusion and respect; meaning that our front-line workers, such as security guards, cleaners and receptionist feel valued and are important ambassadors of our company and the customers we serve.

In addition to this, Keith talks about how we have elevated Wellbeing to the very top table at EMCOR UK, recently promoting Jonathan Gawthrop to the operational management board to lead our Health, Safety and Wellbeing agenda.

Sustainability is another important area he covers in the three-page interview, describing some of the important steps the business has made in areas such as ISO 50001 (energy management), ISO 14001 (sustainable procurement) and our work with the FM Supply Chain Sustainability School and our stance on single use plastics.

No conversation these days goes without talking about technology and this interview is no exception. Keith underlined the impact technology is having on FM and the continual investment EMCOR UK is making in developing in-house capability and bespoke solutions for customers.

He concludes the interview with his views on the current pipeline, which is looking strong, so we are continuing to invest in our people, sustainability, wellbeing, IT and digital technologies.

Extracts in this post have been taken from the full interview in FMJ magazine and online. To read the full interview, please visit FMJ (P34-P36).