The Wates Group is set to expand its facilities management offering with the launch of Wates Facilities Management (‘Wates FM’) – a new business with expanded nationwide capabilities.

Formerly operating as Wates Smartspace FM, Wates FM will build on its existing nationwide portfolio of total facilities management services across a range of environments, including banking, retail and healthcare, and will seek opportunities to provide FM support to both private and public sector clients.

Wates FM will become part of Wates Property Services division alongside the group’s Living Space business, which provides planned and responsive repairs for more than 500,000 social housing properties and more than 350 buildings nationwide. This restructure will allow the two businesses to combine their expertise.

The group has 85 key customers across 14 sectors, including 60 social housing providers and it has a combined annual turnover of c.£400 million with a £1 billion forward order book.

David Morgan, managing director of Wates Living Space, said: “Wates’s continued success is built on the breadth of our in-house capabilities and our agility in identifying and maximising complementary areas of our business. There is a great deal of synergy between Wates Living Space and Wates FM and aligning the two businesses will enable us to significantly enhance our service to clients.

“Operational efficiency is essential when working with the public sector and this is something that underpins Wates Living Space’s position as a leading UK provider of housing repairs and maintenance.”

Wates FM currently manages at least 350 commercial properties, delivering services including statutory compliance, cleaning, security, catering, porterage, front-of-house, helpdesks and computer-aided facilities management (CAFM), as well as mechanical and electrical and building fabric maintenance through a mix of site-based and mobile teams.