Introduce Yourself with Our Property Maintenance Team

In the latest edition of 'Introduce Yourself', we hear from the maintenance side of Property Services team about the challenges they've faced during lockdown and all that they've been getting up to. A special mention to Ben Lee, Property Helpdesk Administrator, has kindly helped us to put this article together for you!

 

Who are The Property Services Team?

The Property Services team are responsible for all Facilities Management and Maintenance works for all trading stores and offices. The team consists of the Property Services Helpdesk, who look after all maintenance works requests via the Property ServiceNow Portal, & the In House Maintenance Team, who are responsible for maintaining the offices around the Society.

 

What have the Team been doing during Lockdown?

 

Julie Sheldon, Head of Property Services:

Since the lockdown, Julie has been overseeing all that has been happening within Property and has been working very closely with the Health and Safety team to ensure that the offices are up and running again, with as little risk to colleagues as possible.

Julie also undertook all of Chris' roles with Les, when Chris was on furlough. So this was something different to Julie's usual role, having to adapt to overcome any potential challenges.

Team morale and colleague safety in Property Services has been a key priority for Julie during lockdown, so to combat this Julie leads a weekly group meeting, where colleagues talk about their experiences throughout the past week. 

Julie has continued to working closely with Food, Acquisitions and Merchandising teams with regards to the new store openings and closures. However, meeting virtually through Teams, rather than in person, has presented challenges to which we have had to overcome.

 

Chris Williams, Property Maintenance & Contracts Manager:

Chris was placed on Furlough for 4 weeks. Chris used the time away from work to spend some quality time with his 3-year-old son Josh, lots of football and Disney+, as well as building flat-pack furniture and sorting the garden out under orders from his wife!!

Chris returned to work on 11th May and has since picked up where he left off with the Society’s refrigeration project in our food stores (20 at the last count), and other capital approved projects.

Chris has also helped with the new Refrigeration Tender process, looking at new suppliers to save the Society money; this has meant him working closely with the Procurement Team. 

The latest project in Property is the actioning of fire risk assessments remedials, something in which Chris, the Helpdesk and Compliance will be working on. 

 

Les Wilkinson, Contracts & Maintenance Assistant:

Les was ordered stay at home for the majority of lockdown by the Government, so with this decision, he has not really been able to carry out some of the roles he would have done prior to Covid-19. However, as he was mind-numbingly bored after 12 weeks in the house, we've decided to allow him to get out and about visiting sites again.

Whilst at home, Les has had to adapt to the ways of the Property Services Helpdesk and has now become a permanent member of the Property Helpdesk team. His knowledge of the Society has really helped Lu and Ben during the lockdown period.

Les hasn’t just provided his services to the helpdesk either, whilst Chris was on furlough Les picked up a few of Chris’ roles too. 

 

Lu Emerson, Property Helpdesk Administrator:

Whilst working on the Helpdesk, Lu also opted to work on the HR advice line to help with the high volume of calls, speaking to colleagues about everything and anything, some of which were quite challenging. 

On 4th May, Lu was put on furlough for 6 weeks, returning to work 15th June. Lu used the time to move into a new house, buy a new car and spend some family time with her partner and son Arlo. Congratulations Lu!  

Since returning, Lu has jumped straight back into the Helpdesk way of life and is enjoying being back at work and speaking to adults, instead of watching CBeebies all the time.

 

Ben Lee, Property Helpdesk Administrator:

From 18th March until the 1st May, Ben was re-assigned to work at our Woodford Halse food store. Here he was responsible for stacking the shelves, tidying up the warehouse and bond room, reductions on near sell-by date products, scanning out wastage, manning the door and leading the team of temporary workers. He was also offered a fulltime job as well, but thankfully for the Property team... he turned it down.

From the 4th May, Ben returned to his normal Helpdesk duties, alongside Les. Since then Ben has also worked on the compliance actions remedial works spreadsheet, compliance calls and quotations, 24/7 refrigeration works daily job spreadsheet and also completing this blog!

Ben is also working alongside Julie, Chris and the in-house team with the setup of a Covid-19 secure Coop House.

 

Sat Bhurji, Maintenance Operative – Warwick:

Satinderpal has been overseeing all at Head Office...

At the start of lockdown, Sat helped with the distribution of the new silver baskets to food stores. 

Head Office has had a complete make-over, with the majority of the rooms having a fresh lick of paint. New features around Head Office have also been added. So be sure to have a look when you are next on-site (see photos at the bottom of this blog).

Sat has also been very busy organising the equipment for collection for new colleagues and existing colleagues from Head Office. He has also done some home deliveries for isolating colleagues.

Phase 2.5 and 3 of the head office works are coming into action during August & September, so Sat has been busy getting things prepared for this. 

 

Steve Freeman, Maintenance Operative – Walsall:

Steve has been very busy during the Covid-19 lockdown... For the majority of March and April, Steve was over in neighbouring Wales helping with the distribution of deliveries to our most vulnerable customers. 

Steve has spent a lot of time helping at Head Office with Sat and David, especially with the re-opening phases. Steve has also led the re-opening of The Waterfront office in Walsall. This included removing the unwelcome visitors who were occupying the car park. 

As well as all the above Steve has worked within the pharmacy sites, helping with customer flow and ensuring safe shopping for all. 

More recently Steve has been helping with the distribution of Perspex screens for the re-opening of our travel and funeral branches. 

 

David Hagley, Assistance Maintenance Operative – Walsall:

David has been all over the Society during the lockdown period carrying out the following:

• Worked at Stonehouse Food store where he was stacking the shelves and picking items for the new delivery service
• Delivered Food Parcels to the elderly and vulnerable for 3 weeks
• Collecting essential Food Baskets from the Northway Hanger and distributing them out accordingly around the country
• Manned the doors at a couple of our Pharmacy sites to ensure safe shopping
• Helping Colleagues set up at home by delivering vital office equipment to them 
• Assisting Sat & Steve at Co-op House
• While renovating the pond, it was observed by Steve and Sat, David was dancing erratically, only to find out he was being stung by the bees - ouch!
• Leamington Travel frontage redecoration (photos below):

 

 

Recycled Products Made Into Great New Features at Co-op House:

• 5 New Recycled Wood and Eco-Brick Benches. These will be distributed around Co-op House Grounds. 
• New Herb Garden Pots - All edible, mint, thyme and parsley to name a few, so make sure you help yourself to a little. 
• New Luxurious Bug Hotel - Taking Bookings July 2020 

  

• We have installed new signage to encourage recycling at Coop House. 
• The Orangery has had a new lick of paint and is now looking ready for when it can be used again.
• Fire Doors have now been fitted with Decimal Level (Fire Alarm) activated Doorguard stops - So we’re sorry but no screaming/high pitch singing around Head Office anymore
• All the hedges and trees in the car park have trimmed down to a safe level for everyone. The team have also used the opportunity to give the car park a good clean and tidy, but the Rabbits keep messing it up for them!!

 

 

Renovated Feature Pond:

 

 

 

To find out more about the property services team, please visit their respective page in the How-to section by clicking here.