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Now, as Managing Director of Shepherd FM, and with direct access to the knowledge and resources of the £600m Shepherd construction and building services group, is he set to use all that experience to create a new kind of major player in UK facilities management?

Thinking about the way forward
Coming, in effect, from nowhere, Shepherd FM seems to have been doing pretty well recently. In July, it scored with a substantial win at Twickenham; in August, it landed a national contract with information provider Yell; and most recently, it has been appointed by leading law group Wragge & Co. Against that backdrop, I asked Clancy what he considers to be the key characteristic of the market these days.

"Uncertainty," he replies immediately. "Take sustainability as an example of what's facing companies. They know this is a big issue and they should be taking action on it. They're having discussions along the lines of 'business may have slowed; our share price may be down; but maybe this is the right time to take steps that will put us in good shape as the upturn comes'. But at the same time, their over-riding concern is this week, this month, the next six months. So when service providers are talking to customers about payback periods of years, they tend to lose interest.

"At the same, the information coming into the marketplace is confusing, too," Clancy continues. "I went to a sustainability conference recently and listened to presentations from some quite senior people in the industry – representing BIFM, CIBSE and several consultancies. As the MD of an FM company – someone expected to advise on at least some aspects of this - I was confused. The stories presented were so different. Customers simply don't know what to do to get the right impact with the best payback."

Though he acknowledges the difficulty, Clancy believes that heads of property at all sizeable organisations need to find time to think about the best way forward for their own business. That means looking beyond the day-to-day pressures to define needs over the short to mid-term, identify the opportunities and locate appropriate suppliers of services and products.

"For example," Clancy continues, still on the sustainability theme, "there are organisations out there – including Shepherd – that can bring a financial model to the table that makes good sense. We can guarantee payback; and we have a lot of experience in what is usually the hardest part of successful implementation in any energy consumption reduction strategy – getting people to change their behaviour."

He has a brief list of examples he uses in discussions like this, companies that he regards as models of good implementation practice.

"I know of one or two financial organisations that see clearly the connection between their global brand, their commercial success and the success of their sustainability policies. Sadly, I can't say I see every company thinking that way. But as we move closer to the day when the Carbon Reduction Commitment begins to bite, others may be moved to act on this….though for some, it's likely to be a case of too little, too late in terms of avoiding extra costs and penalties."

Working the supply chain
Shepherd FM doesn't just think about the customer population. It also keeps a close eye on suppliers, testing their sustainability policies and reviewing their practices – and, according to Clancy, the business is not shy about suggesting improvements where it thinks there might be scope for increased efficiency and effectiveness.

"For example," he explains, "more than once we've challenged plans to build fit-out components on-site when it is clear that building off-site would be cheaper, easier and more sustainable.

"We've gained considerable knowledge here from our colleagues in the Shepherd Group. The M&E boys there use a system called Prism for designing and manufacturing components off-site: there's a whole series of benefits, including greater cost control, consistent quality and faster project delivery.

"Over the years," Clancy adds, "Shepherd has learned a lot about how to cut out waste and inefficiency. In the FM business, we can bring some of those benefits to our clients too. The Prism approach to thinking differently about solutions is our default position. It's only if we can't do that for some reason that we look at plan B, the more traditional approach."

As an engineer by training, Clancy easily falls into references to hard FM problems and solutions. He recognises that the Prism route is not always relevant to customer needs; but, he notes, every customer welcomes any suggestions for 'de-risking' a situation.

Where to from here?
Referring back to that list of good practice models, Clancy tells me that the businesses he is most enthusiastic about, especially as customers, are the ones where sustainability is right at the centre of operations, where it runs through everything they do. He explains: "When organisations like that ask for a proposal, it's not a case of them saying 'do the same things you've always done but tack on a couple of pages at the end about the environment'. It's more the case of 'think differently about what you can do and what your suppliers can do to support our goals'."

So in that context where does he see the future of FM? Does this mean greater integration with property services and/or building services; or is FM better to remain separate in order to exert influence from the outside?

"For me, and again this comes from the context of how the Shepherd Group works, I don't understand the divide between property or estates management and FM. I think the two must work closely together. There is a massive void here in the marketplace at the moment. The need is for advisors who can get under the skin of the customer, understand what it is they want, understand where they need to be, what a building needs to look like for them, and then offer the full assistance required. I'm talking about everything from sourcing the accommodation right through to delivery and ongoing management.

"At the moment, this process is disjointed, which means that the question of how you will look after a property only follows after all the other decisions have been made – often a cause of later problems, costs and lost opportunities."

He continues with this argument: "I think customers would welcome this approach. Who better to really understand how an organisation works than the FM provider?

"All these skills and the relevant knowledge are available to us via the Shepherd Group. I think this will be an interesting area for us to develop."

Clancy is aware that his business has already succeeded in raising one or two eyebrows in the marketplace by landing contracts in places where some observers didn't expect the company to appear so quickly.

"I'm pleased with that," he says. "But it's not difficult what we're doing – it's a case of putting the right people in place who can deal with customers effectively. And of course responding professionally and creatively to their needs."

He adds: "As a result of the reputation we are already building, we're finding that quite a few people out there – potential customers and potential employees – are very interested in talking to us as the new guys with some fresh ideas."

It does seem clear that as we struggle to emerge from recession into a business environment that is going to be fundamentally changed in some ways, many organisations may well be open to alternative strategies for workplace accommodation supply and management. Given that fact, Shepherd FM is definitely one to watch over the next couple of years.