Bidvest Noonan

A leading provider of Facilities Management Services

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Bidvest Noonan announces its new operating structure

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Following the completion of an acquisition plan that brought Cordant Services, the Axis Group and Interact into its business, Bidvest Noonan has announced its investment in a new operating structure.

This new structure will see the development of separate leadership, operations and support teams for Bidvest Noonan’s businesses in Great Britain and Ireland.  Each business will be led by a CEO who will assume full responsibility for managing the business in the relevant geography.

Cormac Sheils, a highly experienced senior executive who has been part of the group’s senior leadership team for over eight years, has been appointed CEO of Bidvest Noonan in Ireland.

Commenting on his appointment, Sheils said, “I am excited to take on this new role and I’m delighted to have the support of a very strong and experienced management team. I know that working together, we will take this business from strength to strength. Our plan for Ireland is clear, we are a market leader for a range of single and bundled service solutions, and I am determined to protect and develop our market position.”

The group will name its new CEO for Great Britain in the coming weeks.

With revenues of over £700 million and employing more than 27,000 people, Bidvest Noonan has become a leading player in the UK’s facilities services market and is the market leader in Ireland. Today’s announcement signals Bidvest Noonan’s commitment to delivering exceptional service and value to clients in these territories.

This new structure will allow Group CEO Declan Doyle to lead a newly established team focusing on strategy, governance and transformational activities for the group. This new team will enable the group to grow its leadership positions, develop new service lines and enter new sectors and markets.

Commenting on the announcement, Group CEO Declan Doyle said, “our new operating structure will enable us to build the in-country infrastructure and agility we need to take our performance to the next level. Our new operating structure will provide an excellent platform for our future growth, provide more opportunities for our people and enable us to deliver even greater value and support to clients“.

Chief Business Office Fintan Connolly added, “with our new structure in place we can increase our focus on developing our business and creating value for clients”.

Tessa Rossi on her passion for Microbiology and her role as GMP Specialist at Bidvest Noonan

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Tessa Rossi joined us recently as a GMP specialist to enhance our support to our life sciences clients. Our marketing team caught up with Tessa to learn about her role and how her strong passion for Microbiology drives the essential work she does.

What intrigued you about this science-based career and why you choose this path?

I have loved science, specifically biology, since my childhood years. This love and passion grew as I decided to pursue a degree with dual majors in genetics and microbiology. Since the first day of the microbiology course in my first year, I was simply mesmerised by how quickly microbes adapt and how these invisible beings are more numerous than anything else on planet Earth. I am just fascinated by the complexity of biology, by how something that we cannot even see can have such a significant role in every aspect of our lives, and how our understanding of these small organisms can allow us to change our world completely and ultimately save lives.

Tell us about your journey that led you to Bidvest Noonan.

After I completed my master’s degree I was fortunate to get an opportunity as a research scientist in a fast-growing medical device company in South Africa. In a brief period of time, I learned so much regarding the regulations governing the design and development of medical devices, the rigorous testing required for these products, and the requirements to ensure that quality products are delivered to patients. What really stood out to me in this role was how multi-faceted it was, with my daily tasks ranging from working with the design engineers to compiling regulatory documentation to manufacturing and testing the products. I became the lead research scientist and was able to work with a great group of fellow scientists to provide truly innovative solutions to our clients. It was truly such an interesting starting point and it awakened in me a very keen interest specifically in the life science industry. 

After moving to Ireland, I started a position as a QC microbiologist at a biotechnology company. As the site was still very new at the time it was a very fast-paced environment that offered great learning opportunities and required constant adapting to the rapidly changing environment and daily testing requirements. 

I was already aware of the significant role and presence that Bidvest Noonan has in the life science industry and have seen them in action at pharmaceutical sites. I was therefore very keenly interested in the innovative and high-quality services that they offer to their clients and I was really keen to see how the knowledge and experience I gained from my previous roles could add value to the business and contribute to this ever-changing field.

GMP Specialism is critical in the Life Sciences sector; Tell us about your role at Bidvest Noonan?

As a GMP Specialist, my daily activities range from compiling GMP training to doing site visits, to doing research on solutions to challenges that arise daily across the various sites that we are involved with. A crucial part of my role is to ensure that all our staff understand GMP principles and practices and are fully GMP compliant before they even start with any of their duties in GMP environments. This includes ensuring that our procedures, practices, and services are also in line with the most up-to-date regulatory guidelines and requirements. I am also involved with visiting various sites to fully understand their processes and procedures and to determine how we can optimise our contribution to providing the highest quality service delivery to our various clients accordingly. As the life science industry is constantly busy and changing, there are always challenging arising and I embrace the opportunity to research potential solutions to cleaning, GMP regulatory queries, and other service delivery challenges that allow us to offer scientifically sound, informed solutions and innovations to our clients.

The service that we provide is absolutely essential, and as such, I consider my role as an incredibly important one to ensure not only that our business is providing the best possible service, but to allow staff to understand the importance of their daily tasks and ultimately providing our clients with the certainty that they can trust us to make their product quality and safety our number one priority in every single task we undertake. 

What do you enjoy most about the job?

What I enjoy most about my job is that I get to apply my knowledge about and passion for microbiology and GMP to real world, essential applications and practices every single day. 

I love that I get to work with so many different facilities and people, learn from them, and also provide them with a different insight into what we do. One of the highlights so far has definitely been the development of the GMP training programme, but I can honestly say that I learn something daily and that it is great to work in a business with such diverse expertise and such a desire to be the best.

You seem to be really passionate about microbiology. How does it reflect on your role?

My passion for microbiology and my thorough understanding of GMP requirements allow me to offer unique insight into the services our company offers. I have a keen desire to always keep learning and to stay up to date with the latest developments in my field. I am therefore determined to constantly keep adapting training, procedures, and practices to the latest requirements and to provide clients with innovative approaches to optimise our service delivery that is supported by the latest technological and scientific developments, advancements, and data. My enthusiasm and ability to work in fast-paced, high-pressure environments will allow me to really make the most of this role.

It has been an unusual year for the Life Sciences sector. How has the pandemic impacted your team and what does the future look like in the sector?

Every single person has been affected by Covid-19 to some extent or another. It has certainly affected the life sciences sector very significantly – hospitals most of all. It has also affected other GMP environments that had to adapt to using fewer personnel, circulating personnel in a safe way, and most importantly increasing some safety measures to keep the virus out of these critical environments. 

The majority of these measures have always been in place in GMP areas, but the current circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic have certainly highlighted the importance of these measures and have significantly increased the awareness of safety procedures. Within the life science industry, various companies had to rethink their personnel monitoring and control strategies to limit the spread of the virus. Gowning requirements had to be increased in some cases to ensure protection of the environment against the virus (e.g. the use of face masks in areas where it may not previously have been a requirement). 

Personally, I believe that many of these measures will last well into the future, as it has almost forced improved safety and contamination control even more than what previous control measures may have done. It has also made personnel more aware of how their actions affect not only their own safety but also the safety of those around them and maintaining this awareness is definitely essential in the ongoing contamination control and safe execution of tasks in the life science industry.

The Life Sciences sector and the growing importance of the GMP specialist

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The Life Sciences sector has been growing rapidly in recent decades and it is playing an essential role in the response to the pandemic. To do their critical work, companies in this sector need the highest quality standards in their controlled environments, that is where the GMP specialist comes in.


Read our report on the growing importance of the GMP specialist and trends shaping the future of the Life Sciences sector:

Our report on how data is reshaping the workplace discusses:

  • How working practices are changing
  • Leveraging data analytics
  • Data-driven service solutions
  • Data enabling workplace sustainability

Download now

Success Factors Series – Emma Rahim

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Emma Rahim, HR Director for our Facilities Solutions business unit, is an experienced HR professional with a strong track record in building high-performance teams, improving productivity, and ensuring compliance. Emma shares with us the principles that have helped forge her successful career.

Open-minded discussions for a more inclusive society

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There have been many questions surrounding the best practices in creating a more inclusive and involved workplace throughout businesses, especially regarding the LGBTQIA+ Community. We have experienced major leaps and made progress throughout these last few years, however as with anything, there is, and always will be, room for improvement.

From a personal point of view as a member of the LGBTQIA+ Community myself, I would always remind colleagues that identities are complex and that we should always be encouraged to participate in open-minded discussions. I often find that people are too afraid to ask questions, no matter how well-intended, because they are afraid of saying the wrong thing or accidentally coming across as offensive. To those people I say: There’s no way forward unless we are prepared to make a mistake or two, learn from it, and move on.

Sincere, unbiased curiosity makes for wonderful conversation and if you happen to stumble over, or get someone’s pronouns wrong, the acknowledgement of that along with a genuine attempt to get it right the next time is worth more than a thousand apologies. Learning to say Spouse or Partner instead of assuming Husband or Wife is easy. The comprehension of (and respect for) the fact that some struggles surrounding certain individuals are deeper than they appear will allow for the safe space people need to be engaged and productive members of their work team.

Unfortunately, many LGBTQIA+ workers aren’t open about their sexual orientation or gender identity at work because they’re worried about hearing homophobic jokes, being stereotyped, and feeling excluded. According to an important survey conducted by the Trade Union Congress with LGBTQIA+ people, “of the 68% who said they had experienced sexual harassment, 66% did not tell their employer, sometimes because they were afraid of being “outed” at work”.

At Bidvest Noonan, our ED&I Council has defined the ED&I policy to ensure all employees comply with our core values and respect our valuable differences. We also have developed some guidance documents to raise awareness about the best practices throughout the organization regarding Gender Reassignment and Sexual orientation. We want to make sure that our people are equally valued as employees and individuals. To be an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, we strongly encourage everyone to actively call out discrimination in the workplace, report to managers or higher management, and let individuals know what they are doing is not right and that we, as a business, will not tolerate hate crime.

But it is not all doom and gloom. It has progressed massively over the years, and the LGBTQIA+ community has become more accepted worldwide than ever before. Even countries that have never approved of it are looking at sanctioning bills that protect the LGBTQIA+ community. More and more individuals and companies are embracing pronouns, PRIDE, and educating employees in the workplace on stonewall, how to be a good ally, setting up ED&I councils, etc. The more we talk about it, and the more it is a part of everyday life, then I believe we are continuing to head in the right direction.

As Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete in the U.S professional sports, once said – “Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it’s a good place to start”.