February 11, 2025

Diamond Facilities Support – Forward progression

Since its creation from a standing start 14 years ago, national maintenance and facilities management organisation, Diamond Facilities Support, has grown into a £14m-turnover operation with an enviable client base that includes many leading names. Construction Industry News recently caught up with Adam Atkins, CEO, to see how this progression has been achieved.

“There’s been a couple of factors that have served us well over the years,” explains Mr Atkins, who created the company along with fellow director, Helen Cooper, in early 2010. “The flexibility we offer clients has been incredibly important and has been part of our ethos since Day One. We have our own web portal management system that can be completely tailored to our customers’ requirements and we’re able to provide a high level of personal service.

Adam Atkins, CEO, and Helen Cooper, Director

“The other most significant advantage we’re able to offer stems from the fact that we are a fully direct labour organisation, unlike so many companies that claim to be. I’ve not come across another company within the marketplace that has the national reach that we do, and our 115-strong workforce help to give us a real point of difference in what is a very competitive marketplace.”

The combination of its service-led approach and its robust workforce capabilities has enabled Diamond FS to build a loyal customer base, many of which have been with the company for the lion-share of its 14-year history. “One of our biggest clients has been with us for seven years and has just renewed for another five years,” adds Mr Atkins. “This says a great deal about the consistency of service we’re able to provide and the standards we operate at.

“Don’t get me wrong, there have been hurdles along the way, but, like anything, it’s how you rise to meet those challenges. Operating a large workforce involves its own issues, but having a flat management structure enables us to resolve any problems extremely quickly. Staff training and development have also been integral to our approach.”

This emphasis on helping its employees reach their potential is borne out by the fact that many of the management team within Diamond FS have come through the ranks, such as the associate director for the drainage operation, who started at the business as a drainage engineer. The contracts manager for one of the company’s largest contracts, meanwhile, started out within the production team.

“We very much look after our people and for those that are loyal, willing to work hard and care about our customers, we will be 100 per cent committed to them. We’d much rather promote from within rather than having to recruit externally. By developing our own people, we’re able to immerse them in the culture of Diamond FS, so they’re fully aware of the quality we strive for. At a time when there’s such a major shortage of skills in the wider market, it makes sense for us to develop our people too. Some of our engineers have been with us since the very beginning. We will only recruit externally when we have a significant skills or experience gap.”

Mirroring its commitment to its people, Diamond FS also invests in its machinery and equipment to ensure its staff can fulfil their duties safely and efficiently. As a specialist hard services organisation, the company offers a 24/7 help desk, as well as emergency reactive and planned maintenance across all trades and disciplines. Supporting its services are a drainage division, a fire safety division and a minor works division. To further bolster this offering, it has also developed a major works division.

“As we’ve grown a growing number of our clients have invited us to take on larger projects, again underlining the trust they have in us. We were always able to take on projects up to £100,000 in value, but now we have developed our capabilities and are taking on works up to £250,000 and beyond, which is why we have created a specialist new division.

“The market is looking strong in certain areas, although some clients are aiming to cut costs due to the current economic climate. Thankfully the services we can provide are able to help improve the efficiency of their operations. We’re in continual liaison with our clients to see how we can save them money.

“More generally, looking at the wider market, the situation is buoyant and we’re continuing to secure contracts with excellent clients on a national level across a wide range of different sectors. We have added over ten new clients this year alone. The fact that we’re able to work in such diverse areas really shows the strength of our offering and the broad spectrum of expertise we can bring to the table. Operating across different sectors means that we don’t have all our eggs in one basket, so if one market is under-performing we’re less impacted.

“One area that we don’t focus on is the domestic residential market, as we’re purely business-to-business. This is because we concentrate on generating repeat work and building long-term contracts that bring benefits for both parties. Our offer is much better suited to the commercial world. This is where we excel.”

Having enjoyed such strong progression over the years, Diamond FS is now looking to keep the momentum going by focusing on the same approach that has made it so successful. “Looking at the year ahead, the aim is for further controlled growth with stable and robust margins,” concludes Mr Atkins. “We’re not looking for transformational change or to triple in size just for the sake of it. The new major works division will help push us forward, and we’re keen to further develop the drainage and fire safety divisions too, but the overall aim is sustainable development with our clients, both new and existing.”

It is clear that Diamond FS is on the right track and the signs are that 2024 will be another strong year for the Birmingham-based business.