Case Studies

Pub/Leisure –
HVAC, Catering, Electrical.

Since 1991, First in Service have been providing both planned and reactive service to a major high street pub operator, around the UK. Currently, over 160 sites are looked after by the company, with a basket of services being taken by the client. Our engineers service & maintain heating & air conditioning in the sites, as well as the heating in any staff flats on premises, electrical service & testing on all sites, and all the catering equipment.

The client uses First in Service seven days a week to provide a reactive service, and for planned maintenance, including gas testing & certification of the heating & gas services, as well as periodic electrical fixed circuit testing and day to day electrical repairs. We also provide catering service & maintenance across the majority of their entire estate of around 680 sites.

Business & Industry -
HVAC, Electrical, Building Services, Additional services

For the past ten years, First in Service Limited has been providing building services management to a global disaster recovery company, who operate in 15 sites around the UK, offering a complete data storage and disaster recovery service to major clients such as BT.

Major critical data storage facilities require optimum cooling, and we maintain these systems, as well as carrying out the design & installation of new and upgraded systems.

The contract also covers a range of services, based around mechanical and electrical services, with both resident engineers and field staff; the experience of First in Service has meant that we can also offer additional services such as water hygiene testing, security staff, and other building maintenance services.

Public Sector -
Catering & Refrigeration maintenance

The company has been targeting the public sector over recent years, and has been successful in winning many long term contracts with local authorities & other public bodies to service & maintain the catering equipment in school kitchens and corporate facilities.

These contracts require engineers to be CRB cleared, and the ability to react quickly to equipment failures, as the school lunch service won’t wait!

Currently, the company currently holds contracts with six London Boroughs, as well as other local authorities nationwide, both City and County Councils offering differing levels of cover as required by the clients.

The requirement of school caterers is for us to provide a responsive service, and planned maintenance to prolong the life of their high capital investment, brought about by recent publicity and projects upgrading the school meals service.

Our in house contracts department has carried out upgrades to the kitchen extraction & ventilation systems, including gas interlocks, to ensure that the sites are compliant with all current standards, and our electrical department has also designed & installed additional electrical supplies for new equipment.

Public Sector -
HM Prison Service
AC, Catering & Refrigeration

The company has been successful in winning a variety of contracts with Her Majesty’s Prison Service, part of the Ministry of Justice, which has over 135 sites in England & Wales. As can be imagined, this organisation has a requirement for providers that have an understanding of the difficulties of working within in a secure environment, and can provide engineers that are security cleared to work within the establishments.

Several regional catering maintenance contracts are held, alongside others for air conditioning and refrigeration service & maintenance. Altogether, First in Service works in around 40 prisons across the country, with all work won with a competitive tender, several of which have been renewed on more than one occasion.

Our in house departments have designed & installed upgrades to kitchen extraction systems, carried out various major equipment installations, and upgraded & supplied new cooling systems.

Restaurants & Public Catering
Catering, Coffee & Refrigeration service

Catering for the public in airports, roadside & motorway services is unusual in that customers are transitory, and so the providers only have a short opportunity to serve the potential customers, and any breakdowns require a rapid response from the service provider.

First in Service has specialist coffee engineers, Barista trained to offer a quality service, and are capable of looking after a wide variety of machines. This facility, alongside that of our general catering engineers, has meant that major operators in these areas use the company to look after all the catering & coffee equipment in some 35 motorway and roadside facilities for two national operators, including specialist broiling, serving & frying equipment in the branded fast food outlets providing burgers or chicken based menus.

High Street Retail
HVAC, Catering, Electrical

The reactive service & planned maintenance of in store cooling & heating is paramount to the comfort of sales staff, and probably more importantly, the customers in retail outlets, and First in Service has a history of looking after several of the most well known high street names.

Instore catering is an important revenue earner for big retailers, and the service of business critical equipment has formed part of the company’s business for a number of years.

Currently, the company has contracts with a national chain of mobile phone retailers for AC and Electrical service & maintenance, along with catering service for several national department stores.

The availability of engineers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a permanently manned help desk, enables First in Service to provide exactly what the customer wants.

Engineers are run by Field Managers, and supported by Service Support & Operations Managers back at base. Engineers journeys are controlled by a bespoke call planning system, incorporating satellite tracking of vehicles, with live, web based information.

This technology helps us to improve our environmental position by allowing us to reduce journeys between calls, as well as being able to allocate jobs to the nearest available engineer, and advise customers of the ETA as necessary.

The company employs an experienced team of contracts engineers and designers, who offer a full design & installation service to clients.

We show below some recent examples:

Hotels:

Building cooling – when a prestigious London Hotel was being refurbished, they needed an experienced contractor who was able to carry out all mechanical design & installation works, during a multimillion pound project to establish this privately owned hotel as one of the premier establishments in the capital. First in Service installed a building wide cooling system, ensuring the comfort of guests in all the 102 rooms, as well as all the public areas. Kitchen extraction & ventilation systems were also installed in this seven figure project.

Data Centres and Business Continuity

Data Centres, with multiple facilities with large server suites as well as Business Continuity Companies who offer a complete package for major businesses who suffer catastrophic building failures, have the need for a full back up from their facilities company. Multiple sites around the country provide the latest communication and technology solutions for both large & small businesses.

First in Service have a long history in this field with several major operators, supplying resident engineers who carry out all day to day service requirements, from cutting the grass to monitoring CCTV, servicing heating and the critical cooling systems, managing water hygiene, lift maintenance and reception duties.

A major part of these works is design & replacement of the critical cooling systems for the server rooms, which are essential to the business, as well as our engineers providing round the clock maintenance.

HM Prison Service

In addition to our maintenance contracts for the Ministry of Justice, we have also assisted them in their quest to replace inefficient ageing cooling systems with current specification units, that use ozone friendly refrigerant gases.

Both replacement and new systems have been designed & installed at various locations around the UK. We have also assisted sites with major installations of other equipment, by providing contract management expertise, as well as provision of labour and on site management, to enable a smooth and swift conclusion to major projects. We have also provided temporary facilities whilst refurbishment programmes were running, to enable continuity of service, all important in such a facility.

Garden Centres

Recent works for a major national group have included electrical replacement works, to upgrade dated equipment, as well as provide replacement space heating systems, to ensure a comfortable shopping experience within these very busy sites.

Site visits, discussions with site personnel and regional property managers ensure that correctly specified units are supplied, that will ensure that energy consumption is minimised, whilst providing a safe and comfortable environment to enhance the shopping experience.