Discover how SEE Services is revolutionising facilities management by driving nationwide decarbonisation
From its Essex headquarters, SEE Services Ltd (SEE) offers market-leading facilities management (FM) and infrastructure support services to customers all over the UK. While it offers a wide range of FM services, SEE’s core business and expertise lies in hard services, providing planned and reactive services like HVAC, mechanical, and electrical. By placing a strong emphasis on communication and personal interaction from initial contact with customers through to the final hand over, the company stands out from the competition, delivering positive experiences. A testament to SEE’s deserved reputation, the company has worked with a wide range of businesses across countless sectors, including many leading brands and high-street names. Jeff Alden, Group Strategy and Development Director, sheds light on the company’s journey.
“Although SEE’s history traces back to 1985 when it was known as Southeastern Electrical Ltd, the company as we know it was established in 2014. The current shareholders and I took over SEE from the original owner in 2018, developing it into a multi-service FM provider. Today, our core areas of activity focus on sustainability, mobile maintenance delivery, and legal compliance, including gas, electric, fire and water safety. SEE’s mobile maintenance extends everywhere from Fort William to Truro, covering electrical building fabric, HVAC, and both hard and soft services, such as remediation and high-access facade cleaning,” he begins.
Growing market share
Sustainability plays a pivotal role in SEE’s offering, as the company strives to support its customers in their decarbonisation efforts. “We serve as a partner to clients across diverse sectors, aiding them in reducing their energy usage, improving efficiency, and reaching their net-zero targets. Whether it is a university, an ambulance service, a healthcare organisation, or retail giants like Versace, Poundland or Tesco, SEE provides solutions to empower their energy transition with an ever-growing portfolio. To tailor these solutions and deliver them accordingly, we usually collaborate either with the customer, their property team, or with their sustainability lead to gain a thorough understanding of their strategy and needs. Following that, we provide the most suitable services to help them on their net-zero journey, from optimising their lighting, heating, and ventilation, to conducting broader assessments of new building values and utility agreements. As natural gas is being phased out, our role extends beyond delivering physical solutions to consulting and strategy development, ensuring our clients navigate the transition towards decarbonised buildings effectively,” informs Jeff.
Striving to uphold its commitment to sustainability throughout all facets of its operations, SEE is becoming an increasingly strong presence in the electric vehicle (EV) market. “Already serving as an electrical contractor and decarbonisation partner for Tesco, SEE began installing electrical charging points in all Tesco car parks in 2018. Although we had no previous practical experience in this arena, we quickly grasped the initial installation process of electrical charging points and evolved into an end-to-end provider for Tesco. In short, SEE expanded its services beyond electrical installation and commissioning to include feasibility studies, civils works, and comprehensive installation and commissioning. Subsequently, we offered our newly gained expertise to the wider market. To date, we have successfully installed and continue to maintain over 3000 commercial charging points across the UK. If my figures are correct, this represents approximately seven per cent of the total 55,000 commercial charging stations throughout the country. As a result, our customer base has expanded beyond Tesco with new clients in the motor trade, including car dealerships and franchises like Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Mazda and Mini. Indeed, the transition to EVs has prompted numerous dealerships to upgrade their infrastructure, and this year, we are visiting several of their sites to either add more electric charging stations or upgrade the existing equipment for enhanced efficiency. 
“In addition to our work with car dealerships, we also cater to ambulance services, including South Central Ambulance Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service. Furthermore, we have forged partnerships with organisations like the Borough of Lambeth, Bridgend Council, and Portsmouth University. We also recently secured a feasibility project based in Bath. Our collaboration with these public bodies not only involves overseeing the installation of charging stations but also handling the entire end-to-end process for them. This encompasses managing the payment process, which can be done via contactless payment or through a dedicated application, as well as ensuring the availability of the charging stations. Thus, we are growing our end-to-end EV solutions, from the first plans to maintenance after installation. Additionally, we are venturing into the charging point operator (CPO) market, managing the public end of EV charging equipment for our bank customers. SEE aims to grow its market share in the EV sector even further as part of its ESG drive and commitment to sustainability,” Jeff enlightens.
Enhanced efficiencies
To achieve its own net-zero targets, SEE has adopted multiple changes internally. “Planet Mark, a crucial partner in helping us reach internal business targets, awards us with an accreditation based on our progress towards achieving Net Zero. Through comprehensive inspections of our buildings and vehicles, and assessments of our fuel and energy consumption, Planet Mark has motivated us to reevaluate our buildings’ occupancy levels, heating, and lighting systems to implement measures to enhance energy efficiency. In terms of fleet optimisation, we strive to reduce travel and expand our fleet of EVs as the EV market continues to improve its range. By 2025, SEE aspires to have a fully electric fleet, which should be feasible as our year-on-year carbon reduction stands at about 17 per cent,” he ends.
At the forefront of the facilities management sector’s journey towards sustainability, SEE is spearheading the adoption of EVs and enabling major organisations to lower their carbon emissions all while rapidly expanding its presence nationwide.