Bidvest Noonan

A leading provider of Facilities Management Services

Latest News

Chris Berry has been appointed to role of Director of Operations for Logistics and Warehouses

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Strengthening its senior leadership team as the business continues to pursue ambitious growth plans, Chris Berry brings more than 15 years of leadership experience and a strong track record of improving operational performance, growing businesses and building high-performing teams. He has previously held senior leadership roles across the transport sector, managing large and complex operations at National Express, HCT Group and Arriva.

In his new role, Chris Berry will lead Bidvest Noonan’s Logistics and Warehouses portfolio. His priorities will include driving service excellence, enhancing operational performance and supporting the delivery of the company’s strategic objectives.

Chris will report to Keith Middleton, our Managing Director for Transport.

Keith said of the new appointment: “We are delighted to welcome Chris to Bidvest Noonan. He brings extensive industry experience, a strong record of operational leadership and a genuinely people-focused approach. Chris will play an important role in helping our teams strengthen performance across our Logistics and Warehouses portfolio and build on our success in sustainable growth.”

Chris commented: “Throughout my career, I’ve enjoyed working in fast-moving operational environments, so the opportunity to join Bidvest Noonan and return to an industry I love felt like a natural next step. The company’s ambition, commitment to its customers and people-first culture really stood out to me.

“I’m keen to get to grips with the technologies at my disposal and learn more about the business’s comprehensive social value programme. And I’m of course excited to meet our customers and teams, understand what success looks like for them and work together to deliver even greater results.”

Bidvest Noonan pledges to help 10,000 people into work and training by 2030 

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Commitment announced at the opening of the company’s new A-rated Dublin headquarters, attended by Minister Darragh O’Brien, as Bidvest Noonan launches its Purpose in Action strategy ahead of its 50th anniversary.

Bidvest Noonan, one of Ireland’s largest private-sector employers, has pledged to help 10,000 people into employment and training by 2030, with a particular focus on those who face the greatest barriers to work.

The commitment was announced today at the official opening of the company’s new A-rated headquarters at Airside Green in Swords, Co. Dublin. The event was attended by Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment and Minister for Transport, and by Mpumi Madisa, Chief Executive of the Bidvest Group, the Johannesburg-listed parent company and the first Black woman to lead a JSE Top 40 company. Bidvest Noonan, which provides cleaning, security and facilities services, marks its 50th anniversary in 2027.

The pledge sits at the heart of Purpose in Action, the company’s new social value strategy, launched at the event. It commits Bidvest Noonan to two goals by 2030: supporting 10,000 people into employment and future skills, and delivering one million hours of community impact through volunteering, fundraising and local partnerships. Those supported will include people with disabilities, refugees, women returning to the workforce and the long-term unemployed, helped through work placements, recruitment mentoring, employability workshops and training.

The commitment builds on Bidvest Noonan’s partnerships with organisations such as Business in the Community Ireland, whose EPIC programme supports migrants and refugees into employment.

Ola is one example of how that support can lead to a real opportunity. Originally from Nigeria, Ola, 33, came to Ireland in 2024 and struggled to find work despite a background in hospitality and IT, unsure how to navigate an unfamiliar jobs market. As an EPIC participant, he received CV and interview support before completing the training, vetting and licensing required to become a Security Officer. He is now building a career with Bidvest Noonan.

“When I arrived, I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know how the system worked here. I kept applying for jobs and hearing nothing back, and I started to wonder if I’d ever get settled. The support I received helped me understand the process and gave me the confidence to go for it. Now I have a job I’m proud of and a future I can plan for.” Ola, Security Officer at Bidvest Noonan.

Darragh O’Brien, Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment and Minister for Transport, said:

“I am delighted to join Bidvest Noonan for the opening of its new headquarters and to welcome this important commitment. For those who face barriers to entering the workforce, the right support at the right time can make a transformative difference. As major employers, companies like Bidvest Noonan have both the reach and the opportunity to help people access meaningful employment and realise their potential. It is particularly fitting that, as the company approaches its 50th year in Ireland, it is making this pledge from a headquarters built to the highest modern energy-efficiency standards.”

Julie Mernagh, Chief People and Culture Officer at Bidvest Noonan, said:

“Talent and potential exist in every community we are part of. Access to opportunity does not. Purpose in Action is our commitment to help close that gap. Through our colleagues and partnerships, we can open doors for people, whether that is a first job, a step up in their career or new skills for the future.”

Declan Doyle, Chief Executive Officer of Bidvest Noonan, said:

“Bidvest Noonan has grown over almost 50 years because of the people who deliver its services every day. A job can be a first opportunity, but people also need the chance to learn and progress, and this commitment brings the two together. As the company approaches its 50th anniversary, we want it to be known not only for the services it delivers, but for the opportunities it creates.”

Purpose in Action is organised around four pillars: Employability and Future Skills; Community; Sustainable and Responsible Supply Chain; and Environment.

Bidvest Noonan Appoints Industry Leader Brandie Deignan as Managing Director, Strategy

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Bidvest Noonan has appointed Brandie Deignan as Managing Director, Strategy, a newly created executive role designed to strengthen the company’s long-term growth agenda, accelerate innovation, and ensure the business remains ahead of evolving client expectations.


Reporting to Chief Operating Officer Cormac Sheils, Brandie will work across the business to identify emerging trends, anticipate changing customer needs, and help align strategic priorities, innovation, and operational delivery to support the company’s next phase of growth.


Brandie Deignan brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience across healthcare, hospitality, aviation and retail. She has an established track record of leading transformation programmes, driving performance improvement, and delivering change in complex, large-scale organisations.


Most recently, she served as Chief Executive of Pier Health Group, one of the largest GP partnership groups of its kind in the UK, providing healthcare services to more than 130,000 patients across North Somerset. Prior to that, she was Managing Director at Marco Pierre White Restaurants, overseeing approximately 50 outlets across eight restaurant concepts. Earlier in her career, she held senior leadership positions including Business Transformation Director at British Airways, where she was responsible for the strategy and delivery of the airline’s onboard product, as well as operational leadership roles with Tesco, Whitbread, Travelodge and Hilton Hotels.


Commenting on her appointment, Brandie Deignan said: “Bidvest Noonan has built an outstanding reputation for delivering exceptional service and operational excellence. What attracted me to this opportunity was the company’s ambition to continue evolving and stay ahead of what customers will need in the future.”


“The facilities management sector is changing rapidly. Technology, sustainability, workforce expectations and customer priorities are reshaping what great service looks like. My focus will be on helping the business anticipate those changes, accelerate innovation, and ensure we continue creating meaningful value for our clients, colleagues and communities.”
“Looking ahead only matters if we can translate insight into action. With 27,000 colleagues across the UK and Ireland, Bidvest Noonan has an incredible platform, depth of expertise and culture of delivery. I’m excited about what’s possible when that capability is aligned behind a shared strategic vision.”


Cormac Sheils, Chief Operating Officer at Bidvest Noonan, said: “We have created this role because the questions our customers are asking are changing, and we want to be ahead of those conversations rather than simply responding to them.”


“The facilities management sector is evolving rapidly, driven by technology, changing customer expectations, increasing demands for sustainability, and the need to deliver more value through innovation. Strengthening our strategic capability is an important part of ensuring we remain a trusted partner to our customers as those expectations continue to evolve.”


“Brandie has led transformation across healthcare, aviation, hospitality and retail, and she has done so from both frontline operational and executive leadership positions. That breadth of experience is rare and brings a valuable perspective as we continue to grow, innovate and focus on what matters most to our customers. We are delighted to welcome her to the business.”


Bidvest Noonan delivers facilities management, security and support services to many of the most recognised organisations across the UK and Ireland. The company continues to invest in innovation, technology, customer experience and operational excellence to help clients create safer, more efficient and more sustainable environments.


The appointment of Brandie Deignan reflects Bidvest Noonan’s continued focus on sustainable growth, customer value and long-term market leadership as the business enters its next phase of development.

Digitalisation in life sciences cleaning

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Few sectors are investing in digitalisation as seriously as life sciences. Yet it is also a sector that adopts innovative technology carefully and deliberately. In an environment where a change that goes unnoticed can affect a product people depend on, moving slowly is not caution for its own sake; it is good practice. Any new digital system has to earn its place and be qualified and validated before it goes near a live area.

The same discipline should shape how a service partner approaches technology. The opportunity is not to add technology where it isn’t needed, or to change how a manufacturer validates and runs its controlled environment. It is to build capability that complements existing GMP sanitisation and cleaning practices, and that makes the delivery of the work more consistent, efficient, and to a higher standard.

Brian Maguire, Director, Life Sciences, shares his thinking on how we are approaching this, and why it should make the work better, not just easier.

  • GMP Cleaning team walking in a pharmaceutical environment
  • Bidvest Noonan GMP Cleaning team cleaning a pharmaceutical environment

Building capability that fits the environment

The organisations we work use carefully developed and well-established systems of their own. They set the procedures, they hold the validated records, and they define the standard the work is held to inside their GMP-controlled environments, in line with their GxP requirements. What we are building is there to support it: our own digital operations platform, TASK, designed around the realities of a controlled environment rather than bolted on to them. Its role is to make sure colleagues within these areas follow the right client-defined process, in the correct sequence of cleaning and disinfection, understand why it matters for GxP compliance, and that we can demonstrate the work was carried out to highest standard achievable.

There is a fair concern, whenever technology enters careful work, that it becomes a box-ticking exercise: people stop thinking and simply tap a screen. If that were all a system did, it would make the work worse. Used properly, the effect is the opposite. When the correct step is in front of someone at the moment they need it, and what they have done is captured as they do it, there is less room to drift. The standard does not drop. It becomes harder to walk past.

Turning a hundred-page procedure into something people can follow

A cleaning SOP on a life sciences site can run well past a hundred pages, all of it technical and none of it open to interpretation. Expecting someone to hold all of that in their head and apply it perfectly, every time and often under time pressure, is a great deal to ask.

TASK lets us manage the information required by our operatives and present in clear steps, and in the right order, with nothing removed from the standard itself. It also gives GMP leads assurance that operatives are delivering the procedure correctly and in the manner the SOP defines. Just as importantly, it lets us present the work in a way people genuinely understand. Our teams come from many different backgrounds, and English is not always a first language. GMP terminology and dense regulatory wording are a real barrier to getting a task exactly right, so we break it down into plain, clear instruction, available in a way that works for the person carrying it out. Understanding this improves the standard far more reliably and this is where a digital approach earns its place: it closes the gap between what a procedure says and what a person understands.

Keeping the proof beside the work

In controlled and GxP environments, contamination control depends on being able to show what was done, not just that it was done, and the closer the record sits to the job, the more it can be trusted. TASK captures the work as it happens, what was cleaned, when, and by whom, forming a reliable audit trail rather than relying on a write-up at the end of a shift. The record is built as the work is done, not reconstructed afterwards, which is what data integrity really means in practice. Alongside it sits a clear view of who is trained and to what level, so the people in each area are the people who should be there.

That has real operational value. A room returning to production without delay depends on the clean being right first time and signed off without question, which supports faster room turnaround and protects against operational downtime. Consistent, well-followed process supports the safety of our own people, and a record captured in real time means that if a query is ever raised, it can be traced to the exact task, the operator and the time, rather than pieced together after the fact. That makes a deviation far easier to investigate and reduces the risk of an audit observation. In a sector where an inspection can arrive at short notice, the evidence being already in place, and accurate, is worth a great deal.

Where this is heading

The real value is not in any single tool, but in integrating systems: bringing the information gathered across preparation, delivery, and evidence into one logical view. When the way we prepare and develop our people connects with how the work is carried out and evidenced, a person’s understanding of the work and the proof of how they performed the task stops being separate systems and becomes one singular process. That is what we are building toward: not technology for its own sake, but a workforce that understands the why behind every task, working to a standard that can be shown at any moment, and held consistently in a sector where it can never slip.

Bidvest Noonan Appointed by Stena Line Across Five Ports

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Bidvest Noonan has been awarded a contract to provide security services for Stena Line, one of the world’s largest ferry companies, covering its port operations at Belfast, Loch Ryan, Birkenhead, Holyhead and Fishguard.

Under the contract, Bidvest Noonan will provide a range of security services supporting the safe and secure operation of Stena Line’s port facilities. These will include passenger, baggage and vehicle screening, access control, port patrols and CCTV monitoring.

  • Stenaline Bidvest Noonan security officer4
  • Stenaline Bidvest Noonan security TEAM
  • Stenaline Bidvest Noonan security officer2


David Barker, Chief Growth Officer at Bidvest Noonan, said:
“Stena Line keeps people and goods moving between the UK and Ireland, and its services matter to the economies and communities on both sides of the Irish Sea. Being chosen to help protect its operations across five ports is a significant moment for our business. We are looking forward to building a strong partnership with Stena Line.


Peter Quigley, Group Head of Port Safety & Security for Stena Line, added:
“Safety for our customers and staff has always been a priority for us, and we’re delighted to welcome Bidvest Noonan as a key partner in our Irish Sea operations. We look forward to working closely with them and building a strong, long-term relationship that supports our operations and our continued focus on safety excellence.”


Bidvest Noonan has grown strongly across the transport sector in recent years, growing its presence across ports, rail, bus, airports and more.

Bidvest Noonan Retains Tower 42 Estate Contract

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Under the renewed agreement, Bidvest Noonan will continue to provide security and post room services across Tower 42 Estate, a landmark 2.4-acre commercial destination in the heart of the City of London, centred on the iconic Tower 42.


A dedicated on-site team supports the Estate each day, helping to create a safe, welcoming and professional environment for occupiers and visitors. The contract renewal reflects the strength of the long-standing partnership and the consistently high standards delivered by the team.


Russell Dean, Managing Director for London Solutions at Bidvest Noonan, said:
“We are delighted to continue our partnership with Tower 42 Estate. This renewal reflects the trust that has been built over many years and, above all, the quality and commitment of our people on site. We are proud of what the team delivers every day and look forward to continuing to support the Estate in the coming years.”


The renewal further strengthens Bidvest Noonan’s position in the corporate real estate sector, where it provides security and facilities services to many of the UK’s leading commercial properties.