DHP Property Consultants

The core activities of the DHP practice based in Weybridge, Surrey, are chartered surveying, architecture and engineering. In addition to this, they have more recently developed Facility Management and Project Management services to enable them to exploit their expertise in the field. Jackie Smith, their Helpdesk Manager, explains, "The company background is in full property consultancy. The FM consultancy side came later. It was a deliberate strategy, aimed in particular at some schools, since the voluntary-aided sector was given more responsibility for their own facilities in 2002. So we deal directly with those schools – there's no need to go through the local authorities, for example."

Simple solution, maximum control

"Most Planon users have the direct responsibility for carrying out the work on the buildings under their control," she points out. "But we are not so typical. We're providing consultancy, using our expertise to help and advise the customers and using Planon as a means of keeping the information under control. We handle day-to-day repair work, statutory requirements for maintenance planning and small improvement jobs for about 100 schools.