Here at MAN Commercial we love a celebration, and what better occasion than celebrating all the achievements of our industry at The Security and Fire Excellence Awards in November!
Held at the Park Lane Hilton in London, MAN Commercial were finalists in both the ‘Company of the Year Over 25m’ and the ‘Inspiration in HR’ categories. We were so delighted for our HR team to be shortlisted for this title, as they have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, ensuring that all our Officers had the support and information they needed at all times. Although we didn’t take home an award on the night, the team truly deserved the recognition, and our HR Manager, HR Advisor, HR and People & Comms Director had a brilliant evening! The HR team were joined on the night by our Marketing team, CEO Iain McCallister and some of our Operational Directors.
We recognised the host of the night, Solihull-born magician and comedian Ben Hanlin, who has been a guest at our Head Office in the past. Ben bought some comedy to proceedings and made sure everything ran smoothly, and was joined by World Cup-winning legend Sir Geoff Hurst, who made a well-received appearance to announce the final two award winners.
This year as the first time we have attended these awards and we are already looking forward to returning next year!
Thank you to our friends at The FD & CFO Centre UKwho we have worked with for 10 years, for creating this special ‘Client Success Story’. The video captures the journey of our CEO Iain McCallister, from starting out as a doorman in Birmingham to travelling internationally protecting top bands and artists, to progressing MAN Commercial to where it is today.
There’s a lot to cover in 3 minutes, but the CFO Client Experience team have done a fantastic job!
November has flown by; it’s been another busy month for our expert Events Team. We’re delighted to have provided staff at numerous different events this month including sporting, corporate, and music events.
The month started at the Bentley and Lamborghini open evening at Fort Parkway, followed by race meetings at Warwick and Haydock. Our skilled Events Team ran the ringside security at the Night of Champions event at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, which proved to be a blockbuster event! The headline act, Nathan ‘The Hitman’ Heaney attracted a bumper crowd as he sold over 1,700 tickets for his showdown with Sladan Janjanin, who he defeated in the 11th round. His incredible following generated a sizzling atmosphere spurring him onto victory.
The other main event involved Zachary Parker, who defended his WBO International Super middleweight championship in an eagerly awaited battle with Marcus Morrison. Additionally, our events team provided ringside security at the home of boxing, Bethnal Green’s York Hall, on two occasions this month. These events featured heavyweight fighters David Adeleye and Dominik Musil.
This month we secured a brand-new contract working at Coventry City football club, where we will be ensuring the safety of both fans and players at the Coventry Building Society Stadium on matchdays! We rounded off the month at Resorts World in Birmingham where we were on hand at the JLS concert.
This month we welcomed our new Business Development Manager Amy to the MAN Commercial team. “I am so excited for my future at MAN Commercial!” says Amy, “The team have been so welcoming, friendly and not only I started a new job this week, I move into my new house and the wonderful team all signed a congratulations card for me!”
New to the security sector but excited to get stuck in to her new challenge, Amy added, “I am enjoying building my knowledge of the industry to give me the very best start into my new role to succeed.”
Penny, who has joined our Finance Team, says “I am very excited to join the company as Financial Controller, and I look forward to developing the team and finance function as we continue through this period of growth.”
Our Vetting Team has also gained a new member, Lucy, who has come to MAN as Vetting Officer.
There are no limits to the progression with MAN Commercial!” We chat to four of our office team about their training and development within the Company.
At MAN Commercial Protection Ltd our passion is our people. We employ close to 1500 people across the UK; their training, development and progression is consistently one of our top priorities.
We have a team of 40 based at our Head Offices in Solihull, with many of them having been with us for several years and being promoted into more senior roles or different departments within the business. We passionately believe in maximising the potential of our teams, and support this by providing access to apprenticeships and training courses up to degree level.
Jamie Relph, our HR Administrator says “When I started at MAN Commercial, I was in the Vetting team but after working for MAN for about 5 months, a vacancy arose for a HR Administrator and having completed my CIPD Level 3 and looking to start and develop a career in HR, I was keen to apply. I was successful in securing the position, which I have now been doing for over 6 months. It was great to see that MAN look to recruit and develop from within, by giving current employees the opportunity to take on new roles within the business.”
Jamie was delighted to have landed his dream role at the company he was already enjoying working for, “The main reason for wanting to progress my career with MAN is due to the continual growth that the company is experiencing. This means that opportunities for career progression aren’t just about waiting for someone to leave the business before you can climb the career ladder, as departments are continuing to expand. The company has also been very supportive with my ambition to further my education, by supporting me to complete my next CIPD qualification and I am hoping to further my career development at MAN in the near future.”
Chloe McCarthy, Recruitment Manager at MAN Commercial, says “From joining 13 months ago I’ve worked my way up from Office Junior Administrator. I was given the role of Recruitment Advisor a few months after starting and I was then promoted to Recruitment Manager in June 2021. This has given me the opportunity to continue the growth within the business and work on some exciting projects.”
“There are no limits of the progression with MAN Commercial,” enthuses Chloe, “With the constant growth in the business this is creating further opportunities that offer great personal progression.” Chloe now leads our recruitment team and works with our Contract Managers and Site Managers nationwide to place candidates and fill vacancies.
Tom Burke, who is now in the role of Marketing & Communications Executive, is excited about the future of MAN, “I started as a Vetting Officer and I am so pleased to have progressed within the company. The continuous growth has created exciting opportunities within the business. This motivates and inspires me to be a part of MAN’s future, as we are only going in one direction.”
Lauren Bracken, who started her career with MAN Commercial as a Vetting Officer and now heads up the team as Vetting Manager, is grateful for the support she has received, “Various training has been provided, as well as regular discussions on how I am getting on. I am offered help to assess my strengths and anything I need to improve on and I am always supported by management and other colleagues. I believe this has helped me progress within the company.”
Pictured: Jamie, Lauren, Chloe, Tom.
It is also crucial that the whole team enjoy their time at work and are passionate about working for the company. “I love working for MAN Commercial Protection because of the people that I work with,” says Tom, “Ever since I joined in March 2021, I have felt part of the MAN family. Everyone has been so friendly, supportive, and encouraging. The company have always treated me with respect and offered opportunities.”
MAN Commercial pride ourselves on our strong work ethic and working together as one team, which is something our people appreciate. “One of the main reasons I love working for MAN Commercial is the company culture,” says Chloe, “Although there are several different departments within the business, we all work as one. This comes with support, opportunity and brilliant team work within the business.”
Jamie echoes this when asked what is his favourite thing about working for MAN, “The team environment. The departments in the office work very closely together and people are happy to support and help with different functions in the business. The various departments communicate and support each other effectively, creating a collaborative team environment.
As a business whose service provides people, we are proud that our team recognise the importance of teamwork and the passion we put in to encouraging everyone to work hard and be the best they can be. As is emblazoned on a piece of our office artwork; the heart of our business is our people.
The prestigious programme, which is supported by The Times, is a celebration of the influential leaders behind some of the UK’s most successful, and fast-growing medium sized firms. This year the Top 50 attracted over 600 nominations. Despite the difficulties faced within the last year or so, this is the largest in its four-year existence.
CEO, Iain McCallister said “It is an honour to have been nominated and recognised in this prestigious list. I am so proud of MAN Commercial Protection’s achievements; my company has gone from strength to strength over recent years”.
It has been an extremely difficult last eighteen months yet this has not subdued the dynamism and entrepreneurialism of Iain and everyone involved at MAN Commercial Protection. Iain continued “We have grown massively with contract wins over the past few years. We look after big logistics companies and also pharmaceutical clients – all these experienced growth during the pandemic.” As part of this accolade Iain attended the celebratory event at Hotel Du Vin in Birmingham where he received his trophy, pictured.
What a month September has been! We are delighted to have provided staff at eleven events this month, ranging from music events to various different sporting events across the country.
We kick-started the month at Brockwell Park in London, where we had a team to oversee the “Wide Awake” festival which took place on the first weekend in September. We have also been busy at the “Vitality T20 Blast Finals Day” at Edgbaston where our events team were on hand throughout to ensure the day ran smoothly, with the crowd’s safety at the forefront.
We also ran the ringside security at the Frank Warren Prospects show, which featured upcoming stars of the sport such as south Londoner Louie Lynn who was defending his WBC International Silver Featherweight title in a ten-round contest against Bradford’s Amin Jahanzeb. The event took place on Friday the 10th of September and was held at the Copper Box Arena, located at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We ended the month working at the Emirates Old Trafford where we provided security at the Courteeners concert which had 50,000 fans in attendance.
Following on from our recent success in winning the BSA business of the year award in June, we are excited to share that we have been shortlisted for another two awards! We have been selected as finalists in the ‘Security Company of the Year’ category at the prestigious Security & Fire Excellence Awards which will be held in London in November. We have also been shortlisted for the “Outstanding in Customer Service” at the Solihull Awards, which will be taking place on the 14th of October. This ceremony showcases the fantastic range of businesses in our local area so we are delighted to be involved.
Along with our recent office expansion, our head office team is continuously growing. We welcomed Pheobe in to our HR team earlier this month to support the growing workload, as well as Sadie, who started her Accounting Apprenticeship with us. We have also promoted internally to fill our Marketing and Communications Executive role, with Tom from our Vetting department starting the new position at the beginning of October.
We recently invited film crew to HQ, who recorded footage for an exciting upcoming project! Our new Control Room was featured, as well as our new space at Unit 7 which includes sleek new offices and luxurious conference areas. All will be revealed!
August is traditionally our busiest of month of the year when it comes to events, and after the disappointment of 2020 we are pleased to report that this year we are right back on track!
We were proud to be part of team at The Hundred, the new and exciting cricket series that has been running at Edgbaston this Summer. Our events team were in the stadium for each match ensuring the safety of the crowd, and also worked with Limelight Sports and the BBC when filming promotional TV segments out on location.
We have also enjoyed getting back to work at large music events and festivals, including Tom Jones at Haydock racecourse, where we have been providing response teams.
Our team also ran the ringside security at the Frank Warren Presents Championship Boxing: Night of Champions, which featured stars of the sport such as Cacace Woodlock, Anthony Yarde and Ahmed Khademi. The event was held at the Birmingham Utilita Area.
We have been involved with the running of the government’s Covid-19 testing centres across the West Midlands for several months now, and August saw us mobilise a further 5 sites in the region. Our recruitment and vetting team have been working hard at short notice to ensure we have officers placed in these essential roles.
Other supply-chain clients who are experiencing growth in the lead up to the busy Christmas peak period have called on us to set up sites at short notice; our mobilisation teams have gladly risen to the challenge, resulting in sites soon to go live in Peterborough, Kent and Worcestershire. We have also begun TUPE consultations to take over staff for a new client at a site in the West Midlands in September.
August has also been a busy month for forward-planning, with our Commercial Team focusing on several large tender opportunities for both potential new and existing clients.
This month MAN Commercial have been featured online and in print by Facilities Management UK, and also by our local newspaper the Solihull Observer. Both publications ran a story on our recent BSIA ‘Business of the Year’ win. Our Comms team also secured a spread in the BSIA’s ‘Spectrum’ magazine, with an article telling our story so far, and our journey to be named the best in the industry 2021.
MAN Commercial HQ has been undergoing some improvements over the last few months, and we are pleased to share that work is now complete! Our new second office gives us an overall space of 7,000 square foot and is already occupied by our vetting and recruitment teams, as well as being host to all internal meetings in our stylish new conference areas.
Our Control Room has benefitted from a top-spec makeover; the space has doubled in size and now houses more monitors, better technology and room for additional operators. It is important that our Control Room grows with the business, as it is the 24-7 heart of what we do. The extra space and tech will allow us to offer even more services to our clients.
Along with our expansion, our Head Office team continues to grow and we are currently recruiting in HR, Finance, Recruitment and Commercial. We also have new roles for Contract Support and Operational Support staff out in the field.
What a month July has been; we have all been riding high on our success at the British Security Industry Awards, where we were named ‘Business of the Year’ at the end of June.
We have enjoyed the press attention this has brought, and have been featured in SJUK, Business and Facilities News and FMUK. We also have exclusive interviews and articles coming up soon in Professional Security Magazine, The Times and Spectrum magazine. Check out our recent coverage here.
Following the completion of our new head office space last month, focus has shifted onto our control room transformation, with the renovation due to be fully finished by the end of August. The room has doubled in size and been kitted out with all the latest facilities and tech, and our secure keyholding room has also expanded. Finishing touches are still being added to the new HQ space, including branded furnishings and wall art. Our original home at Unit 5 has also had a makeover, with our new logo branded wallpaper going up outside CEO Iain’s office, already dubbed the ‘selfie wall’ by the team!
We are really enjoying being back out working at events up and down the country, and July has been busy! We have been involved in the recent test cricket matches in Lancashire and Edgbaston, and had a crew at Haydock Races. Our events team ran the ringside security for Frank Warren at the July 10th Royal Albert Hall show, and again on the 24th for Joe Joyce v Carlos Takam fight at Wembley Arena. Our events staff can also be seen featuring with Tyson Fury in charity CALM’s first ever TV ad, The Invisible Opponent, which premiered in the advert of ITV2’s Love Island last week.
Our recruitment and mobilisation teams are working hard to set up new sites that have begun in July for an existing logistics client, and preparing for more due to start in August and September in various locations including Birmingham, Worcestershire, Peterborough, Milton Keynes and Bolton.
In July we welcomed Dave and Fiona to our Accounts team, in the roles of Apprentice and Financial Controller respectively. We are also looking to expand our head office team with current opportunities in the control room, HR team and recruitment team.
Halfway through the year already, how did that happen?! We may only be 6 months in, but we already know that 2021 will be a year for to remember at MAN Commercial Protection…we are so pleased and proud to share that we have been named ‘Business of the Year’ at the 2021 British Security Awards! The awards, conducted by the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) were held remotely on 30th June due to current restrictions. As well as our fantastic win, we also reached the national finalist shortlists in three further categories!
We are extremely proud of every single member of the MAN Commercial team across the UK and thank them for the part they have played in making this achievement possible!
As if our BSIA Awards win wasn’t enough to make the year stand out in the MAN Commercial history books, we will also remember 2021 for the opening of our brand new Head Office space. As we’ve mentioned over the last few months, we have taken ownership of a second office in Highlands Court, where our current HO already operates. June saw renovations completed, right down to bespoke personal touches such as branded accessories, custom-made furniture and state-of-the-art tech equipment.
With staff due to relocate into this space at the start of July, we make way for modifications on our Control Room to begin. We are planning a large expansion of 24-hour business hub, as well as our secure keyholding office.
We will continue to post lots of updates on this exciting process on our social channels, give us a follow to keep updated!
June also saw the installation of our custom marble office ‘HQ’ sign that we commissioned at the start of the year. Structured overseas from Italian marble and completed in the UK, we are delighted with the result and it now sits proudly outside number 5 Highlands Court. It is a real ‘wow’ piece and has already proved a talking point with visitors.
Our electric charging points installed in May are now up and running, with team members already impressed with the convenience and ease of charging their electric and hybrid vehicles while at work. Plans are underway to reap the benefits further and convert even more of our fleet vehicles to electric over the next 12 months.
June has been an exciting time for our events teams, with some large-scale public events finally given the green light in the UK. We were very exciting to get back to what we know and love, with teams back at live boxing in Telford on the 5th, and up in Scotland at Hampden Park on the 29th for an exciting Euro 2020 last-16 clash. We look forward to more great assignments ahead, with many more events booked in over the Summer months.
Our annual ACS audit was completed 21st-25th June with a fantastic score attained. As always, our Compliance Team worked hard to make sure the audit went smoothly and successfully – we will be sharing this year’s score when it can be officially revealed!
There were more updates and additions to our Recruitment Team in June, Chloe McCarthy being promoted to Recruitment Manager. Chloe started with the company a year ago has consistently grown and improved the company’s recruitment process and capacity; as a result she has now hired 2 new team members to work closely with her.
Our Accounts Assistant Pheobe celebrated her 21st birthday at the end of the month. Pheobe has been with us for three years and has worked up through our apprenticeship scheme. We wanted to make her day special so we arranged a bbq lunch for her, enjoyed by the whole Head Office team.
