Market Overview

The UK Facilities Management Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.88% during the forecast period. According to the British Institute of Facilities Management, the industry is responsible for more than 8% of the GDP while it employs more than 10% of the workforce present in the country.

  • The United Kingdom remains the largest outsourced market in both FM and IFM. It leads to most markets in Europe in terms of maturity and sophistication. Due to the maturity of the market, the revenue growth is slowing with limited new opportunities being generated.
  • Facility Management in the United Kingdom is getting increasingly focused on the delivery of specialized services in this market. These include energy, IT and environmental management, and other opportunities traditionally not covered by FM providers.
  • However, the escalating employment costs, unstable geopolitical situation due to Brexit, increased regulatory scrutiny over flexible labor models, and ever-more rigorous workplace health and safety regimes are expected to constrain the growth of the market further.
  • The already high IFM penetration, in addition to the even higher FM outsourcing, is creating limited opportunities for the existing players. This is expected to facilitate the growth of innovations to develop new areas of business.



Scope of the Report

Facility management encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality, comfort, safety and efficiency of any building by integrating people, place, process and technology. While Hard services include physical, structural services like fire alarm systems, lifts among others, soft services include cleaning, landscaping, security and similar human-sourced services.

Key Market Trends

Steady Rise in Demand from the Public Sector will Drive the Market

  • The public sector contribution to the FM market in the United Kingdom is higher as compared to any other part of Europe. This is primarily driven by the constrained budgets of the government that lead to the continuous outsourcing of essential facility management services. Further, bundled services contracts are expected to benefit from the public spending cuts, as public sector clients looking to reduce the number of suppliers and cut costs.
  • This is also driven by the fact that public sector bodies are continually putting efforts to simplify operations. As the trend for Total Facilities Management (TFM) continues to grow, public sector organizations increasingly outsourcing all ’non-core’ business activities to one service provider, enabling greater focus on core business.
  • However, the public sector has started demanding longer-term contracts from FM suppliers, but lack of certainty over future labor costs and materials is making them riskier propositions, and this could act as a major restraint in the participation of players in the bidding for long term contracts.



Diminishing Profit Margins and Ongoing Uncertainty With Brexit will Restrain the Growth of FM

  • The FM industry is heavily reliant on workers from the EU. The soft sector is primarily dependent on this source of labor, and restricted access post-Brexit can have significant implications. FM businesses, particularly those holding EU contracts, are expected to be affected by potential changes to migrant labor, the supply chain, and other regulations in the post-Brexit scenario.
  • More than 60,000 EU nationals work in the English NHS and about 90,000 in adult social care. This led to the Commons Select Committee for Health, stressing the importance of a pragmatic approach to recognizing the professional qualifications of skilled migrant workers and keeping channels for the staff of the EU open.
  • This scenario, coupled with diminishing margins, is expected to lead to a number of trends in the UK Facility Management Sector. More FM firms will likely move towards being Diversified Total Facilities Management providers. This allows firms to build scale through diversification and mitigate risk from overexposure to a specific sector or line of service. As a TFM provider, firms will be equipped to offer managed services and outcome-based contracts, enabling them to move higher up on their clients’ overall strategic agenda.
  • Hence, a lot of M&A transactions are expected to happen to build bundled capabilities. The companies are expected to extend their capabilities into complementary businesses. For instance, we are expected to observe construction companies foraying into building management services, extending their capabilities apart from the existing services they already offer.



Competitive Landscape

The UK Facility Management is a highly competitive market with the presence of several players of different sizes. This market is expected to experience a number of mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships as companies continue to invest to strategically invest in offsetting the present slowdowns that they are experiencing. The recent developments of the market are as follows:-

  • July 2019 - Incentive Facilities Management expanded its retail portfolio by securing a three-year contract with property development company British Land to provide services at three shopping parks. According to the agreement, Incentive FM will deliver a range of solutions at Broughton Shopping Park near Chester (cleaning and security), Mostyn Champneys in Llandudno (cleaning), and Queens Shopping Park in Stafford (cleaning).
  • January 2019 - Outsourced contracting and facility services provider B38 Group announced the acquisition of Leeds based Woods Building Maintenance Limited. It is expected to strengthen the company’s foothold in the Yorkshire region further and gives the company the ability to offer clients a higher degree of self-delivery and a higher level of service.



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