Top retailer rises to weather risk with proactive drain plan

A food retail institution in the North West is reaping the rewards of a diligent approach to drainage maintenance delivered by Lanes Group plc.

Booths, which operates 27 supermarkets, has seen reactive call-outs drop off sharply as Lanes drainage engineers keep drains and surface water gulleys running smoothly.

Benefits have included reduced risk of service disruption for customers and Booths store teams being free to focus on delivering the excellent service the retainer is renowned for.

Heart of the community

Lanes provides Booths with a comprehensive drainage maintenance service, coordinated by from the Lanes Preston depot, which also carries out much of the work.

A blocked internal drain could close a fresh food counter, while surface water flooding caused by clogged rain gulleys could partially close a car park at a store’s busiest time.

Simon Nickalls, the Lanes Preston Manager, said: “Booths stores sit at the beating heart of local communities across Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Yorkshire.

“We’re proud to be serving them. We work very closely with the Booths facilities team which helps us build up a good understanding of different drainage risks each store.

“This allows us to flex planned maintenance and respond quickly when necessary. Since we’ve been supporting the company, emergency call-outs have fallen significantly. That’s a good sign.”

Key issue – climate change

Global warming is also a key issue. The North West already has higher than average rainfall, and climate change is being blamed for more frequent periods of heavy rain throughout the year.

“If climate change continues to gather pace, taking a proactive approach to drainage management becomes increasingly important,” said Simon Nickalls. “Being proactive defines our approach with Booths.”

Lanes holds all site plans and drainage survey reports on a shared online drive to access and discuss with Booths at any time of day or night. Much of the planned work is done at night, outside Booths opening times.

Simon Nickalls added: “Our teams will always do a visual inspection and if they spot something we can alert our Booths colleagues.

“Tasks can then be added sustainably into the ongoing plan. It’s not about just having a too rigid planned maintenance programme, but being flexible and really caring about client needs.”

Collaborative working

Lanes also provides a maintenance service for the company’s distribution centres and food factories. Booths takes local sourcing seriously, to support local producers and reduce its carbon footprint.

This planned approach to drainage management is working so well, Lanes did not receive a single emergency call-out over the festive period, Booth’s busiest time of the year.

Planned serves Lanes delivers include: CCTV drainage surveys; slot drain cleaning; gully cleaning; car park drain and interceptor cleaning; foul drain cleaning; and grease trap emptying.

Transparency, rapid response and a collaborative approach to working with Booths colleagues were the service watchwords, said Simon Nickalls.

He added: “You can’t stand still with retail drainage systems. We’re able to recommend how store pipework can be modified to make it easier, and less costly to maintain.

“In this way, Booths can stay one step ahead of the kind of problems that can build up on other large retail sites.”

Find out more

Talk to Lanes about how we can help keep your site drains flowing freely and safely through effective and sustainable planned and preventative drainage maintenance. Telephone: 0800 526 488. Email: sales@lanesgroup.co.uk.