Winner: Andrew Hulbert, Pareto FM

Sponsored by: Waste to Wonder

One way of determining an individual’s outstanding contribution to the sector might be to track their organisation’s record in industry awards schemes. This year, Andrew Hulbert’s Pareto FM has also won the IWFM Impact Awards in the Social Value and Sector Breakthrough categories. Andrew winning for his Outstanding Contribution seems a perfectly reasonable hat-trick in the circumstances.

Andrew is one of those all-too-rare people who chose FM, joining as a graduate in 2008 at the age of 21. He has since embarked on a pioneering journey, the fruits of which are evident in the success of his company, Pareto FM.

His FM story began in 2007 when he completed an internship at Rollright Facilities Ltd, joining the firm full-time in 2008.

Early contract success, despite a lack of experience, culminated in his promotion to director aged 24, taking on accountability for all client relationships and managing more than 250 team members.

After Bilfinger acquired Rollright, Andrew left to set up his own service provider. The concept of Pareto FM was to disrupt the market, and focus on team members, customer service, modern technologies, and social value.

Today, Pareto has around £30 million turnover and a staff of more than 200 servicing clients including Deliveroo, Hearst, London Zoo, Virgin Media and Amnesty International. Pareto is currently one of the fastest-growing companies in FM with a growth rate of 75% in only its eighth year, and 98% client retention across those eight years and a retention rate of management at over 90% during the same period.

A unique approach

Pareto’s corporate success is connected to Andrew’s approach on supporting his staff and building a genuinely inclusive environment.

As an individual, many of his achievements speak for themselves. Alongside his FM career, Andrew has:

  • founded and run the charity Tomorrow Meets Today
  • gained an MSc in Facilities Management at UCL
  • mentored more than 10 young women in FM
  • founded The Homelessness Initiative
  • volunteered for the Rising FMs
  • chaired the Young Managers Forum
  • judged IWFM Awards
  • held the role of Deputy Chair at IWFM
  • held the role of Non-Exec Director for IWFM
  • thrown more than 100 people out of a plane
  • become one of the youngest people to achieve IWFM Certified Grade
  • become the youngest person to achieve IWFM Fellow grade
  • allocated more than £250,000 towards charitable initiatives.

Of his many volunteering roles, Andrew’s mentoring of young women in the sector is notable. Recognising how much of a challenge it can be for young women to be taken seriously in this sector, Andrew has worked with more than 10 young women to focus on growing their confidence, helping them develop their careers and, perhaps most importantly, helping them navigate difficult men in FM.

Hard work, dedication and enthusiasm

Andrew is from one of Oxford’s biggest council estates, his mother having grown up in a caravan. Prospects were not high, yet Andrew has forged a path that proves how hard work and dedication can achieve incredible success. It’s this that has underpinned the approach to leadership at Pareto, but it’s in what others have to say that his true mark on the sector can be found.

Testimonials describe Andrew in ways that clearly demonstrate others’ appreciation of his talents.

‘I was blown away by his enthusiasm which rubs off on all he meets,’ says one. ‘Genuinely inspirational,’ says another. ‘His passion and motivation to completely change what the world knew of Facilities Management was infectious,’ adds a fourth.

And one particular client sums it up neatly: ‘He took an industry that needed change in how it was approached by both service providers and clients alike and created a business that didn’t just understand the true meaning of workplace services but defined the future expectations of employees that interact with our spaces.’