VIVO Defence Services

Well done to our VIVO team based at Dstl Porton Down who – along with a colleague from our supply chain partner PD&CL Building Services Ltd – volunteered to spruce up an outdoor area at nearby Chalke Valley Nursery School as well as fix a roof and do a whole manner of other work there for free. The community run nursery near Salisbury, Wilts., is a non-profit organisation and can struggle to find funding. So, our team used their volunteering days – all VIVO staff can take two volunteering days a year for social value initiatives – to help out. We at VIVO also contributed £500 for the materials they needed to carry out the work, which included building a sand pit, renewing the roof sheets on a previously condemned outdoor classroom area, making it usable again, and painting a very tired looking shed, fence panels and some outdoor benches to make them look much nicer. They also pressure-washed the hardstanding floors, carried out some internal painting in some areas, pruned back overgrown foliage and built and put in place two outside chalk boards and painting boards. Great stuff – the pics look great, well done to everyone who got involved. 👏 👏 #military #socialvalue #community #givingback #facilitiesManagement

We held the first of a series of town halls on our patch yesterday for military families living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) homes. The two events took place in Portsmouth and were attended by our Operations Director James Forrester, our Regional Manager Mark Brogden and our Area Manager Lee Nolan. The Portsmouth meetings formed part of a series of Town Hall events for those living in SFA across the country organised by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). DIO’s Director of Accommodation Phil Riley and Head of Accommodation Leah Griffin were also there with Luke Smith, the Client Director at Pinnacle Service Families, to also update families and answer their questions. While we at VIVO – along with our partner Pinnacle Service Families – already hold regular meetings with families across our regions on a local level to discuss issues they may have, the Portsmouth one is part of a series where the senior management from all organisations are attending. It’s all about accountability and we learned a lot. Families discussed how they had noticed improvements to the services we provide due to the way we have boosted resources, improved ways of working since we took over the role and have implemented various new technologies. There was acknowledgement that more can still be done to bring about further improvement – which we’re working on – but it was great to have some open and frank conversations with the military families whose homes we maintain – that’s really important to us. The next sessions in our regions will be held at Tidworth and Aldershot and you can find out more details here https://lnkd.in/dSYUcUwf #military #MilitaryFamilies #Homes #Mainteance #Accountability #Communities

Here’s wishing our very own Gordon Fletcher FCILT CIWFM (Veteran) and all the others taking part, the very best when they start the four-day long DIO D-Day Cycle challenge to raise money for the Veterans' Foundation. Gordon – better known as Fletch to his colleagues – will be part of a group taking part in the event next week, which has been organised by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). They will pedal up to 100km (c62 miles) per day across the terrain where our D-Day landings took place in Normandy, France. Fletch, a father-of-two, started his military career in 1983 as a private in the Army Catering Corps and gave an exemplary 37-years of service, becoming a Late Entry commissioned officer and finishing with the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel. He served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and finally, East Africa, working out of Nairobi commanding the United Kingdom Support Node supporting UK Operations in Somalia and south Sudan. Obviously, Fletch - who started working at VIVO a year ago as a manager of the maintenance services we provide for families living in Service Family Accommodation homes – is very active when it comes to supporting veterans and was eager to be part of the challenge. He is already a keen cyclist and is pictured here riding to work as part of his training earlier this week. The DIO D-Day Cycle will be led by DIO’s Chief Executive Michael Green. A number of representatives from DIO’s suppliers are taking part. In addition to Fletch, they come from organisations such as Amey, Arcadis, Aspire Defence Limited, Balfour Beatty plc, Kier Group, Reds10 and Wates Group If you wish to make a donation for this worthy cause and help veterans during the 80th anniversary year of D-Day you can do so via this link https://lnkd.in/ewyGrAJb Every penny you can give will help the Veterans’ Foundation to continue providing grants to charities that support veterans and their families – making a real difference to the lives of those who have sacrificed so much for us. Good luck to everyone taking part! #Military #SaluteOurForces #DDay #Veterans #LestWeForget #DIOGivingBack #LongestDay

Last weekend, our Pride Kinship Network brought energy and enthusiasm to Leicester Pride, proudly representing VIVO. 🏳️🌈 🏳️🌈 Marching through the streets with thousands of others, our employees celebrated equality, diversity and inclusion with the LGBTQ+ community. The day was filled with music, laughter, and an incredible sense of togetherness. It was a powerful reminder of why our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is so important. At VIVO, we believe that when everyone feels valued and included, we all thrive. Taking part in events like Leicester Pride is just one way we show our support for our LGBTQ+ colleagues and reinforce our dedication to building a workplace where diversity is celebrated every day. #LeicesterPride #Pride2024 #EDI #DiversityAndInclusion #FacilitiesManagement

It has been great to host a series of safety events across our Accommodation section, which looks after maintenance in military Service Family Accommodation homes on behalf of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) – part of the UK Ministry of Defence. Making sure we do all we can do so that our employees and those of our supply chain partners are kept safe is really important in an industry like ours. Therefore, our recent Accommodation Supply Chain Safety Day was a fantastic opportunity for our team to come together and really focus on what safety means to us. We discussed the challenges we face and had an open forum where everyone’s voice could be heard. A big thanks to Matt Hazelton, from Proud2bSafe Speakers for sharing his powerful personal story. We don’t want to divulge it here as it’s his story, but you can find out more about how others felt about his message on this link https://shorturl.at/5GhLE He really left everyone in the room understanding the importance of not walking by when something they see in the workspace doesn’t feel right safety-wise. It really struck a chord with all of us. As said, the Accommodation Supply Chain Safety Day was part of a broader safety push we have been carrying out across VIVO’s accommodation teams and the wider company. Last month, we had a big safety day with our Operational and Project Managers, using real-life stories to highlight what can happen if we don’t manage Health & Safety correctly. And we have been holding some really impactful safety days with our on the ground frontline operatives as well, where Jason Anker MBE, also from Proud2bSafe Speakers, shared his moving story of how a totally avoidable workplace accident he suffered in 1993 left him paralysed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair at the age of 24. He started speaking about this publicly six years later as a mission to help others learn about the importance of health and safety and his story is a vital reminder of why it’s so important to stop work and speak up when something feels unsafe. We’re already seeing positive changes, but we know there’s always more to do. Safety is everyone’s responsibility, and together, we’re making sure it stays at the heart of everything we do! #SafetyFirst #SupplyChainSafety #LeadershipInSafety #SpeakUp

Reposting this as a reminder that Town Hall sessions are being held in Portsmouth on Tuesday, 3 September, for military families living in SFA. This is part of a series across the country and you will need to register to attend please. Details are on the image with the post 👇 👇 👇

At VIVO, we encourage everyone to think innovatively and to put forward new ideas, as we find engaging with all our teams is a great way to improve our ways of working and provide better services. One such idea that ticks those boxes – and to the untrained eye looks like a box as well – is a new mobile container system that our team in Ilchester, Somerset, are using to help increase first time fixes for the military families whose homes we look after in the area. 🏡 That’s really important to us, as the quicker we fix maintenance issues, the better it is for our customers. And this idea really seems to be working as it has transformed the way we operate with our local maintenance engineers and other tradespeople, enhancing efficiency and reducing the downtime that can occur while they wait for parts and while future appointments are rebooked . With Bluetooth-enabled access, real-time inventory tracking, and automated restocking, this innovative solution has significantly improved the rate of first-time fixes at the homes of the military families we help in the area, as it ensures more stock is readily available. And the tradespeople that carry out our work – whether they are employed directly by us or form part of our supply chain partnerships - now benefit from 24/7/365 access, allowing them to focus on their important job of maintaining homes and spend less time on inventory management. For us at VIVO, this is a bit of a game-changing system as it streamlines logistics and boosts productivity and service continuity. Well done to our Ilchester team. 👏 👏 #Military #ServiceFamilyAccommodation #MilitaryFamilies #Innovation #Maintenance #Homes

Next week, on 3/9/24, there will be two Town Hall events at Portsmouth for military families living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA). There you will be able to talk with senior representatives from ourselves at VIVO, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and Pinnacle Service Families about the work we are doing across the military's SFA estate. Do please come along, the details on how to register are in the image. #MilitaryFamilies #SFA #Homes #Accommodation #Military

We recently held our summer South West Safety Group event at HMS Raleigh, in Torpoint, Cornwall. The event was attended by 51 Tier 1 suppliers and 24 VIVO staff, including our Chief Executive Officer Jerry Moloney, as safe working practices are of the utmost importance to us at VIVO. The event was a full-packed day giving our suppliers updates on: ✅Ladder Safety. This is so important as it is so easy to use a ladder badly, but also so easy to ensure you and your teams keep to a few safety principles. ✅ Risk Assessment and Method Statement (RAMS) preparation - what's good and what's bad ✅Communications and policy updates ✅Presentations from the Gas Safety Team in line with Gas Safety Week, which is in September ✅Presentations from our supply chain partners, Dodd Group and Boden Group ✅Launching our Safety Passport to the South West Suppliers We are pleased to say it was a really successful event and the next one is booked for November. We aim to hold one large Safety, Health, Environment and Fire (SHEF) group event a year as well as quarterly sessions to keep our suppliers up-to-date with VIVO policy and procedures as well as those of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), which is part of the UK Ministry of Defence. And we are already looking forward to our next session and hope all those that attended at Torpoint enjoyed the event. #Military #Safety #Mainteance #Partnership #Collaboration #WorkingTogether #SHEF #HealthandSafety #FacilitiesManagement #Construction

Good to hear you enjoyed it and found it useful. #collaboration