The keepers of Birmingham's Loveland half mile

Jun 26 2009 Business Profile By Tom Fleming, Birmingham Post

Tom Fleming spoke to a couple making names for themselves in Birmingham.

Some couples have his and her mugs or wash basins – Nick and Fiona Loveland have his and her sides of the canal between Brindleyplace and the International Convention Centre.

Nick is the director of facilities and operations for Symphony Hall and Town Hall, while Fiona, his wife of 16 years, is operations and environmental manager of Brindleyplace.

“We refer to his and her sides of the canal and the stretch between Brindleyplace and the ICC as the ‘Loveland Half-Mile’,” Fiona said.

Despite the fact they work in such close proximity and in increasingly overlapping roles, the pair rarely get together during the working day.

“People assume we have lunch together all the time, but I think in the years we’ve both been in our respective jobs it’s happened only three times,” Nick said. They do, however, travel into work together from their home in Hall Green – as a way of cutting carbon emissions as well as for the extra quality time it gives them.

Fiona, who was interviewed by Nick for an usher’s job at Symphony Hall 18 years ago, is passionate about how green issues can be incorporated into business practice. Nick, who says the arts world has been slower than some to respond to the environmental agenda, is more of a green novice.

“I started with Brindleyplace six years ago as a contract manager,” Fiona said.

“The role I now have evolved over time and particularly because of the environmental agenda. My team is involved in everything from emptying bins, recycling as much as we can, including cardboard, glass and plastics, to watering hanging baskets and weeding.”

Although she had a facilities management background, Fiona said the Brindleyplace post provided a broader challenge.

“I’m a facilities management all-rounder, but my bias is now soft services – cleaning, waste management and recycling and environmental management.

“Brindleyplace is respected for being innovative: we support clients with our recycling programme, at times collecting recycling from tenants’ offices.

“Any proceeds from recycling are then ploughed back into the system. We have now reached the point where 100 per cent of our waste is directed away from landfill – which is very important in terms of the reduction of our carbon footprint.”

Fiona’s team has spearheaded a waste management system that benefits the needs of tenants as much as the environment.

“Conventional waste management is refuse collectors emptying bins from individual bin stores, which is what happened here until five years ago,” she explained. “Now our Green Team collects the waste using buggies and trailers and takes it to one collection point on the site, where it is compacted and then collected by a waste contractor.

“This way, we have removed 2,500 waste wagons a year from the site which equates to 50 tonnes of CO2 emissions saved. And because we collect the waste at source, we are able to separate the plastics, glass and so on, which makes recycling easier and more effective for our tenants.

”We have more initiatives in the pipeline, such as getting the ISO 14001 environmental certification standard for Brindleyplace management.

“We can then go to our tenants and share our knowledge, offering them the opportunity to pursue BS8555, giving them their own environmental credentials. I think the key to successful environmental management is achieving a balance between doing the right thing for the right reason and it making business sense.”

Fiona’s team is also involved in making sure Brindleyplace looks attractive, especially as it is one of the sites participating in this year’s City Centre Floral Trail entry in the RHS Britain in Bloom finals.

“Britain in Bloom is the prettier side of our role – looking after the hanging baskets and planters.” This year, with the emphasis more than ever on the environment and sustainability, Brindleyplace can also boast two kestrel boxes and a “brown” roof on top of Number 11. On the other side of the canal, in Nick’s neck of the woods, is one of the city centre’s first “bee hotels”, set up to monitor the behaviour and nesting habits of solitary bees, such as the Red and Blue Mason bees, in a bid to understand and halt their decline.

The focus of Nick’s job is Birmingham’s two showpiece musical venues, Town Hall and Symphony Hall.

“My role is to look after the buildings themselves – the Grade I listed Town Hall, which is 175 years old, and Symphony Hall, which is only a youngster by comparison, at 18, but which certainly has the ‘wow’ factor when people walk in for the first time,” he explained.

“As well as looking after the buildings themselves, I also manage the teams that put on the events at each venue – the technicians, box office staff and the catering and front of house teams.

“Unlike Fiona and her team at Brindleyplace, we are only just beginning on the environmental road. It’s early days, but we’re starting to get there: only this morning I had a meeting about changing our lighting at both venues so that it’s more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.”

Nick has been in his current role for four years, having started off as performance manager at Symphony Hall when it first opened. A music graduate, he became interested in the behind-the-scenes side of music when he did a front of house project as part of his degree.

“I knew I wasn’t going to be a professional performer, although this job is about performing in a different way. And it’s wonderful to be part of an environment that is so stimulating. The people who work here have a real passion for what they do – it’s a great team spirit.”

He had been in his job for only a month when he interviewed Fiona for an usher’s job. “It’s quite strange; I can remember the interview vividly,” she recalled. “We found we had not only a common love of music, but that we played the same instrument, the oboe.”

Neither could have imagined they would not only go on to marry two years later, but they would end up in similar roles in adjacent showcase locations. Nor could they have foreseen their jobs would overlap more and more.

“I think the fact we’re married is increasingly beneficial,” Fiona said. “We both have responsibility for health and safety and one of the things we have done together is to organise collective training for our respective teams.

“For the past two years, rather than sending individuals elsewhere to be trained in IOSH, the nationally-recognised management course on the principles of health and safety, we brought a trainer in. We’ve now put nearly 40 people through the programme.”

Being able to share their contacts books is also a great help. “We both have a wide range of contacts,” Nick said. “So if either one of us has a problem, the other is likely to know someone who can help resolve it. It’s like having a double database.”

The couple, both in their early 40s, try to avoid “talking shop” at home – but can’t always resist.

“I used to be quite driven to discuss things at home, but as we’ve both become more confident in our jobs, we tend not to – only if one needs advice on something from the other,” Fiona said.

“But it’s very comforting to know there’s someone in the background who can offer support and help when it’s needed. And because we do talk about our working day, we recognise opportunities that may be of mutual benefit to our organisations.”