UK Live Entertainment
Venues’ Maintenance Programme

Iconic Venues

ATG is a world leader in live entertainment. They were founded in the UK in 1992 and now own or operate 58 of the world’s most iconic venues.

Like JCW, ATG are people focussed which is the heart of their success. In their words they are “Passionate about bringing great live experiences to the widest possible audience; about giving the world’s best creative talent the stage it deserves; and about providing our people and partners with opportunities to realise their full potential.”   

ATG now have venues worldwide, from the West End to Broadway. They operate a diverse portfolio of venues consisting of numerous iconic listed buildings as well as modern multi-purpose event spaces, and welcome and entertain over 11 million people each year.

JCW recognise the importance of the cultural sector, and the way that it brings audiences together. When ATG knocked on our door, we were excited to explore this opportunity further.

About the Tender

The Facilities Management (FM) department at ATG set out with the objective to “Optimise the FM supply chain, to align with the ATG venue operating model and deliver great service and safe environments.”

The requirement to go out to tender arose when inconsistency became an issue. With ATG’s venues originally maintained and managed by several regional service providers, under individual contracts, ATG were dealing with a handful of different maintenance approaches. Whist this can keep initial costs down, unfortunately, for a company operating theatres nationwide, it presented administration inconsistencies. Inconsistencies from the approach to managing assets, right through to the level of service being provided for reactive issues.

Scope Description 

“To engage a contractor with national reach, extensive experience, and the resources to provide a great standard of Mechanical and Electrical Services to our venues, which meets our business requirements and achieve our objectives. The supplier must be able to self-deliver 75% of the required services as part of this contract, predominantly made up of the mechanical and electrical services.”

Why JCW?

ATG’s Group Operations were searching for an industry leading approach, which provided value for money, with local delivery and consistent service levels. They wanted one company that could provide ongoing repair and maintenance of their key assets. This would ensure that ATG buildings remained safe and comfortable for their customers and colleagues. They also required a company that would continue to deliver improvements (service and compliance) and cost efficiencies through the life of the contract.  

We were introduced to ATG’s Facilities Contract Manager, Brett Taylor by a mutual acquaintance, who was working as a consultant. Coincidentally, we already knew Brett from his previous position with a national gym chain, where we provided Hard FM services.

When we caught up with Brett, he was relieved that we already knew each other. We understood very early on that ATG would require a similar management approach and were soon involved in the formal RFP process.

Our Capability

When we asked Brett how JCW stood out for ATG, he told us it was our flexibility to meet unique requirements, our capability to cover all services they needed, including fabric, waste removal, we really were the “jack of all trades” company they were looking for. 

Although we were up against tough competition ATG decided that apart from our fair and transparent pricing, our RFP return was of a high quality and our performance at presentation stage stood out. For all these elements, JCW scored above the competition.

Our Business Development Director, Richard Weller stated: 

“The tender process was very thorough and allowed us to gain great insight to this quite specialist sector.  We decided to go a step further in our mobilisation phase by conducting introductory Teams meetings, in collaboration with our customer Brett Taylor. Given that this was a first-time outsourced solution, this proved vital in building the relationship with the venue managers. Following “go live” we then had the challenge of maintaining aged equipment on a tight budget, in historic buildings, and this continues to be a challenge.”

 “We are proud to have such a prestigious name on our contract base and especially working in such a diverse and dynamic environment – the show still goes on!“

Quick Glance

22 ATG locations in UK.

Full mechanical and electrical, statutory compliance services with Managed Services Helpdesk, Management Information (MI) and data analytics. 

Engineering services include (but are not limited to):

• Air conditioning

• Ventilation

• BMS

• Heating

• Combustion

• Electrical testing

• Emergency systems

• Life safety systems

• Plumbing

• Water hygiene

• Value c£350k           

• 3-year contract

Mobilisation

“One of the best onboarding experiences, I’ve experienced” - Brett 

From the start, JCW learnt very quickly that each theatre is completely individual, each with their own complex requirements. Mobilisation required us to treat each site as if they were a different client, hence multiple mobilisations took place at the same time. 

We produced tailored mobilisation plans for each of the ATG theatres, to cater for their specific and unique needs. To gather site input, we held site meetings, steering groups, as well as thorough introductions of the site engineers to each of the site teams.  

The Team

JCW provides a single point of contact for ATG’s contract management, a local labour and support team with calls handled by our Managed Services division.

Managed Services Helpdesk

Our helpdesk, headed up by Tommy, handle all initial contact, carry out a triage on all inbound calls and ensure all requests are dispatched to the relevant Regional Service Desks. The team are on hand to provide updates on progress and other admin matters.  Their core role is to manage the flow of information with a consistent process, capturing the salient data fields, to then provide Management Information (MI) and data analytics.

Our ATG Contract Manager is based in our Cambridge office and supported by the Regional Supervising Engineers. Together the team are well placed to support all contract requirements.

Our Contract Administrators are also based in our Cambridge office with the Contract Manager and support the preparation of schedules, reports and invoicing amongst many other duties.

Project Works

Our Project Works Manager heads up a team of installation engineers, including a Design Manager who provides technical, project and small works installation support to the contract.

Directly Employed Engineers

Our strategically placed, directly employed mobile Field Engineers, all site inducted, support this contract for Planned Preventative Maintenance and first attendance reactive calls. 

Client Relationship

“JCW is our one stop shop for our M&E maintenance needs, and Chloe is our oracle!” - Brett

Tommy, as well as the wider managed services team, manage a “great relationship” with ATG. It is important to us that we can offer our clients all contract knowledge, escalation, communication, and financial information at any time, via our helpdesk personnel.

Our helpdesk team is a close-knit hive that work in synchronicity ensuring clients receive a smooth and uninterrupted service, even if one or more members of the team are away, expectedly, or otherwise.

Contract Progress

With the first year now almost complete, and the contract going well, together with ATG, we continue to make improvements to streamline our services across their UK sites. 

Reactive Calls

It is understood that some theatre locations have worked with, and habitually called on some of their local trades people for a number of years.  To further establish JCW as the “go to” contractor for reactive call outs, we encourage an increase of site presence from our local Technical Supervisor or Manager, either virtually or face to face. This way ATG sites can benefit from issues being picked up more quickly, become more familiar with the issue escalation system, and subsequently have them attended to more efficiently and effectively.

Minor Works

The Contracts Manager and Project Team utilise opportunities where replacement or repair tasks arise. They endeavour to provide a long-lasting solution and not all replacements are like for like. This means that equipment repaired or newly installed can have improved working efficiency and longevity and be better suited to the environment and footfall through the area.

“One of the success factors is the continuous communication JCW has with each venue, as well as the regular check ins and generally being more visible.” - Brett

Engineer Shoutouts

There are a number of senior engineers that attend their allocated sites on a regular basis. As a result, they now know their venues and its people very well.

The Birmingham Venue, for example, recently applauded our Senior AC Engineer who is “consistently on time, guaranteed to be there and always knows what to do with some of the aged equipment present on site.”

To Conclude

After receiving our “showstopper” national mobilisation, it is still early days for ATG to experience our full capability, how we bring added value, adapt to new challenges, and build a solid, trusting working relationship.

Added Value

As additional client care, our Business Development Director runs “surgery sessions”. These are conducted via Teams with ATG site managers to talk though equipment best practices, legal requirement updates, issues that prevent effectiveness and explore ideas that could improve site sustainability e.g. benefits of new refrigerant, implementing an automated power down during quiet times and getting ready for changes in seasons.

ATG envision their future to be more environmentally focussed, with substantial investment in sustainability and longevity. It is essential that forward maintenance ensures that compliance, resilience, and productivity are maximised, whilst at the same time reducing costs.

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