Balance Partnership
Client testimonial
Following the evaluation report, the College appointed the Balance Partnership to co-ordinate a refurbishment and kitchen redesign programme and to assist in the recruitment of a new in-house catering management team. The result was a first class team with modernised facilities at an affordable cost, delivering a product that was universally welcomed by pupils, staff and parents alike. We were delighted with the results which would have been unattainable using our own and relatively inexperienced resources.
Martin Tolhurst, Bursar, Fettes College
Who we are
The Balance Partnership is a group of niche specialists focused on the facilities management services industry, and very proud of our memberships with BIFM, RoSPA, IOSH and IoD.
We are accurately described as “best practice achievers”, experts on delivering advice, strategy and most importantly project implementation to organisations who deliver FM services for their premises, staff, pupils and members. We operate and have clients within Business & Industry and Educational establishments.
As a national partnership we have successfully delivered our services to clients up and down the country, from Edinburgh to Bath. Our client requirements are often diverse and challenging – these are factors on which we thrive. To date, we have not been presented with an industry sector client issue or timescale that we have not been able to meet.
Balance Partnership by its name and reputation means that it “considers everything” prior to submitting it’s recommendations to clients.
Tony Dilks
Tony Dilks co founded the Balance Partnership in 1996 and has been in the Facilities Management business for over thirty years, twenty five of these at senior management level.
Tony has developed a reputation for going beyond the remit of Consultancy which leans heavily towards not only advising his clients of what is required, but more importantly physically applying himself and getting on with the detail until the assignments successful conclusion.
In 1977 he joined the Forte Group working with its contract division Gardner Merchant as District Manager. During his term with GM, he progressed in a number of senior roles, culminating in one of the Group's senior positions of Divisional Managing Director of Sodexo, responsible for 130 Company contracts that in turn employed over 1500 staff. He now enjoys developing Balance’s national portfolio and keeps regular contact with his clients both past and present.
Laura Churcher
Laura who is also a co founder of the Partnership comes from background that was predominantly in the field of design and related commodities procurement.
During her early career, she worked in sales and marketing within the electronics industry . her role was very much geared towards understanding clients' market awareness and how the Company met their needs.
Laura then started her own business by setting up a succcesful interior design and supply firm. While the company initially focussed its services towards the domestic market it very quickly progressed to large scale projects working with Architects, building companies, property developers and buildings maintenance specialists.
This experience has put her in good stead for moving towards more commercialy orientated projects in small hotels and restaurants including hotels, restaurants, apartment blocks and office layouts.
Stewart Charles
At thirty years old, Stewart is the youngest member of the team and after finishing his education in Edinburgh, Stewart spent the early years of his working life in the retail and service industry. This was quickly followed by ten years in the Financial Services and Banking sectors which included the roles of business analyst and then moving towards the very progressive and fluid area of developing internet based Commercial, Corporate and Retail propositions for business and industry clients.
His role was to consider customer preferences trends and product ranges within specific markets. This role was extremely client and customer focused, requiring high levels of analytical ability. In particular when evaluating and restructuring client based services, contractors and suppliers service level agreements (SLAs).
Stewart's role is to adapt his "clear vision" approach to working with clients when reviewing their Facilities Management services on an individual basis, which will not only include collating and analysing in house and contracted out projects, but more importantly provide initial and longer term solutions (financial and operational) in order to develop "cultural" standards of excellence within agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
This will involve understanding the existing market place via research both from external sources and pro-actively managing existing end to end assignments in order to maintain project and client continuity. He will also be involved in organising and facilitating process workshops to ensure that agreed solutions are communicated to all project participants on behalf of clients.