Steve Neville OBE has brought together facility managers and estate directors from London’s most iconic buildings and property groups, to create the High Rise Interactive Group (HiRIG). In our March 2013 print magazine, Una Riley interviews him at height.
The launch of HiRIG reflects the changes to the London skyline over the past 30 years which has been punctuated by the dominant and dramatic silhouettes of high rise developments. These buildings buzzing 24-7 are no longer simply the domain of office workers; they are thriving, social hubs: hotels, shops, apartments, restaurants, night clubs and of course office space. Steve is the Chairman of HiRIG Group and also one of the principal founders of the City Livery of Worshipful Company of Security Professionals and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Firefighters. Thanks to Steve’s city knowledge and connections HiRIG has been able to harness the support of the London Fire Brigade and the City of London Police, whose assistant commissioners, advised on the group’s formation and will continue to contribute. The group has been created with the purpose of developing and sharing information with regards to best practice and professional knowledge governing the management of high rise, multi occupancy buildings.
In a bizarre twist of fate the same day that the news of HiRIG went out, a helicopter crashed in London close to MI6’s headquarters. Once terrorism was ruled out the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe announced that there had been 11 casualties; two dead, one person critically ill, and others ‘less seriously’ injured. arly reports suggested that the helicopter was ‘diverting’ and crashed into a high-rise crane. The crane was on top of a building called The Tower, in the St George Wharf development, which is billed to be one of Europe’s tallest residential towers. he crash caused travel chaos as roads were shut and a local bus station had to be closed. Local gridlock meant that emergency services struggled to get through. Fire and rescue services were taking ‘lots of emergency calls’ as witnesses described seeing grey smoke towering into the sky, close to Battersea Bridge. More than 60 fire-fighters and eight fire engines tackled the blaze. This was not the type of publicity that HiRIG had imagined, the day they launched, but it certainly made people take notice. I recently caught up with Steve at one of the iconic structures that is now synonymous with the modern City skyline of London – 30 St Mary Axe … known as the Gherkin.
Over a delightful lunch I asked Steve to tell me more about HiRIG. He said: “The challenge of managing the new icons of the London skyline is extremely demanding and has led to the creation of a new breed of super estate director and facility manager. These men and women represent the upper echelon of their profession and are called upon to make critical decisions on everything from water purification to full scale mass evacuation. HiRIG has been formed to provide a forum for these professionals to share their knowledge and to discuss shared approaches to the challenges that the management of these buildings presents.” I asked what gave the idea to start such a group. Steve replied: “The concept originated following a discussion with a couple of the facility managers of these incredible structures. We discussed their common interests and challenges. High rise buildings in the City are no longer the domain of office workers during the day and patrolled by security officers by night. The architects who designed these buildings had a much bigger vision and the property developers intend them to be 24-hour hubs of social and commercial importance and influence. This offers many challenges and opportunities involving tenants, the public, blue light services and the community. We considered that to meet these current and future challenges and to act as centre of sharing and learning, we would endeavour to get together like-minded individuals and draw strength and knowledge from their individual and collective experiences. I am privileged to be part of the HiRIG group and as their first chairman I intend to help to shape their future direction and influential effectiveness.” In view of the recent helicopter crash would he be preparing an ‘air disaster’ plan, I asked? Steve said: “Each of the founders have sound and robust contingency plans and it was a credit to our blue light services how they came together to manage the emergency. We will continue to meet with all the services to sanity-test and communicate these plans and reshape them if necessary once the results of the disaster and recovery are published.” We went on to chat about the wider future of the group in the area of influencing such organisations as the Civil Aviation Authority regarding this huge issue of potential airborne threats. But Steve has his feet firmly on the ground and although he is looking to the sky his main priority is to develop and promote a shared relationship across high rise buildings in the UK through an interaction of decision makers and influencers involved in FM (Facilities Management), fire, security and M&E (mechanical and electrical). “We decided to limit the concept to London at least for the first year to see how the group worked and interacted together. We would like to see the concept expand but not before we have properly identified the common challenges and experiences of the founders and how they can best be shared and communicated for the benefit of others.”
How are you going to communicate findings, I asked. Steve smiled and said: “Very simply in the beginning … our meeting minutes are privately circulated amongst our members but we are planning a series of invitation breakfast meetings to discuss items of specific interest to the group and possibly tenants. For example – evacuation scenarios and the interaction with the blue light services and the community. Once we have discussed and fully studied the impact and the consequences, across a wide range of factions, we will consider how best we can share the information. Our primary objective of bringing together the knowledge and experience of some very talented individuals has been achieved. We will continue, through the founders, to information-gather and share and decide how best we can formulate an awareness programme without compromising their commercial interests.”
Who would be the recipients of all this knowledge, I asked. “With the continued high rise building programme throughout London, we initially seek to work with the men and women who are entrusted to manage those buildings. They will undoubtedly face new challenges as each new building is different in shape, occupants and construction technique. They will be able to draw on the experiences of their peers and through our group have access to senior blue light personnel. The surrounding communities are also very important to the efficient management and running of a tall tower. Communication with all stake-holders is very important and we want to keep the local community informed and engaged in planned events. This is a priority of the founders who were selected for their experience, knowledge and influence. They will collectively decide and agree on the topics of discussion and freely share information of a non-sensitive commercial nature pertaining to their significant area. Our meetings reflect this commitment being held in different founder venues so that the group has the opportunity to visit each other’s properties. Currently the focus is on sharing knowledge and experience whilst formulating future direction.” One thing is for sure; with Steve Neville as its chairman this dynamic new group will certainly be heading in the right direction. I was a principal founder of the WCoSP alongside Steve and I know how much he pledges to any project he gets involved with. I have no doubt that his leadership and commitment will establish HiRIG as a major influencer on behalf of these iconic structures.
