Skanska has been looking after mechanical maintenance for West Dunbartonshire Council since 2001. The contract includes repairs and emergency call-outs for 110 buildings and an additional reactive service for the council’s entire portfolio of 300 facilities over an area of 45 square miles.
Looking after a contract of this size requires an innovative approach and Skanska is using technology to ensure the council gets value for money and accountability.
A key part of this is a computer aided facility management (CAFM) system. This web-based solution gives the council much greater transparency, with access to real time data and the ability to identify and analyse trends from the calls being logged. It includes life cycle replacement programming and condition survey reporting for budgetary planning and expenditure control.
This has allowed the council to run real time reports to verify Skanska’s 100 per cent response and completion ratio, in addition to providing improved cost and budgetary controls.
To target extra energy savings for the council, Skanska installed ethernet connections which linked all of the building management systems (BMS) into one dashboard. This data allowed our experts to target high energy usage areas for investigation and action. New controls over room temperatures have ensured wastage is minimised while actually improving occupant comfort.
This approach has seen some significant savings – for example in one primary school, energy consumption was reduced in year one alone by £18,000.
For schools, Skanska knows that it is vital that children can continue to learn in a familiar environment which is safe and comfortable. This is not always easy to guarantee, given the historic nature of some buildings.
However, taking measures such as using temporary boilers to keep the heat on and scheduling repairs during the evenings, weekends and holidays has meant there has never been a single school closure associated with a heating failure in the West Dunbartonshire Council region since Skanska started on the contract in 2001.
