Winner: Pareto FM, Claremont & Flutter Entertainment partnership

In 2020, gaming company Flutter Ltd embarked on a workplace transformation to optimise design and service delivery. With partners, workplace consultancy Claremont and Pareto FM, Flutter re-evaluated what the office space would provide to its team members in terms of look, feel and service. The firm underwent a redevelopment programme at several office spaces across Europe to mould them into a collaborative, modern workplace. It also wanted to implement a service delivery contract that would far exceed the traditional FM model. Pareto built a contract to include all standard FM services extending to Events, Communications, H&S, Projects and Procurement.

The project required redefining the space and transforming service. Flutter previously had a fully co-located way of working, including individually assigned desks and a lack of collaboration technology. Workplace fell under the remit of IT & Technology with a traditional approach to working patterns. The Flutter Group had spaces across Asia, the US, Ireland and the UK. Claremont engaged with Flutter after a competitive tender process and started to consult the new facilities teams on the approach to embedding new ways of working in the UK and Europe.

Flutter asked Pareto to operate in a new way:

  • Delivering to new European countries where Pareto had no presence;
  • Managing a complex, vast and challenging first-generation TUPE across five countries;
  • Recruiting a new talent base to deliver exceptional customer service;
  • Using the Flutter helpdesk software and building the Pareto provision inside the customer system;
  • Delivering social value initiatives together;
  • Creating a training and development structure using the IWFM framework, focusing on using IWFM Direct Level 4 for junior managers across Europe to help them progress to management level; and
  • Recruiting and delivering services to Flutter in procurement, communications, health and safety and projects.

Results gleaned

A redesign process started with studies and interviews to determine desk use and need for meeting rooms. These enabled Claremont to deliver a workplace report, in collaboration with the facilities teams, to develop a flexible way of working. This led to the redesign and fit-out of its Hammersmith space, which highlighted the importance of hybrid working and collaboration.

Then came the refurbishment of Flutter’s global head office in Dublin in April 2017. The key driver was to increase net floor space to facilitate collaboration, socialisation and to bring the multi-faceted brands together in one space. Pareto FM took a front-of-house contract to service the London office. The project grew in summer 2021, when Pareto FM gained the European tender. This is a live project that continues to grow. Totalling 164,000 square feet on seven floors, Flutter’s global HQ in Dublin now includes a glazed atrium, 110 meeting spaces, 227 agile spaces and 1,070 seated positions. Professionals get to engage with key Flutter experiences, such as entering the building through a football tunnel onto a pitch. Home to 1,700 employees, the offices show how design can encourage people back to the workplace and facilitate hybrid working.

Flutter’s requirements now centre around:

  • Developing the next level of management talent across Europe. This is being achieved via IWFM Direct Level 4.
  • Refining the current SLAs to ensure that Pareto can be held to account for the service delivery and be objectively scored against this.
  • Growing the social value aspects of the contract.

Best practice learning

The design has created a destination that prioritises shared experiences, collaboration and inclusivity, recognising that the office must be for relaxation as well as work. For the initiative to be effective, Pareto required a client that understood its limitations. It was about both parties understanding the art of the possible and building something together. Both sides communicated effectively to achieve the desired outcomes. First-generation outsourcing in multi-European countries delivered simultaneously can be delivered well if both parties allocate adequate resources. The key here was gaining buy-in from HR on both sides and the in-depth comms had with the staff through the process. Service providers don’t need to plaster their branding all over client sites. The teams should feel like a genuine collaboration. When you walk into a space it shouldn’t be clear who is the contractor and who is the client. Wearing client colours is a great way to achieve this. This contract would typically be with a large provider but Pareto has shown that SMEs can do it just as well as the big FM companies.

Key quote

“The core basis of this change management was about working together as one team. True collaboration and empathy on both sides. Pareto did not suggest that they had all the answers, neither did the client expect Pareto to already have operations set up. The reality of how we achieved success was hours of working together to design what the new world would look like. This included looking at structures, designing and then re-designing which roles Pareto would take on and which staff would work for which teams.” – Jason Hunt, associate directors, Pareto FM