Driving Smarter Facilities Management for NZ Police: How Data is Delivering Real Value

Delivering facilities management (FM) across a nationwide organisation like NZ Police isn’t just about keeping things running smoothly—it’s about doing it smartly, transparently, and cost-effectively. That’s exactly what Citycare Property is focused on, using data to deliver smarter decisions and better value every day.

Making a Smart Start

From day one of the FM contract, we knew that change had to be carefully managed. To avoid disruption, we kept many existing subcontractors on board early in the contract. But we also knew that the real opportunity lay in the data.

Once we had enough information and insights, we took a hard look at how things were working—and made some big improvements. One of the first changes was rethinking subcontractor arrangements. In several cases, we replaced travelling subcontractors with local teams, cutting down unnecessary travel costs and improving response times.

We’re now developing a refreshed subcontractor strategy for the Police contract. This includes finding smarter ways to work across multiple client portfolios and identifying opportunities for shared value.

Clarity, Accountability—and a Reset Where Needed

Clear expectations are key to high performance. That’s why we’ve focused on providing subcontractors with consistent guidance on KPIs and accountability.
As part of this, we’re preparing to go to tender for existing subcontractor roles to include a formal reset of expectations making sure everyone is aligned—and that we continue to deliver both value and quality.

Turning Insights Into Action (and Savings)

Right from the start, we set up smart dashboards and reporting tools to keep a close eye on maintenance spending. These tools help us quickly spot anything that’s out of the ordinary—and fix it.

One standout example came from a NZ Police site in Tokoroa where we noticed unusually high costs for routine building washdowns.
A deeper investigation revealed that the site was on a fortnightly gutter cleaning schedule due to nearby deciduous trees. However, we discovered that the trees had been removed some time ago to prevent leaf blockages—yet the cleaning schedule had never been updated. By adjusting the schedule to reflect the new site conditions, we eliminated unnecessary service visits and unlocked annual savings for NZ Police.

We also reviewed all Planned Schedule Maintenance (PSM) tasks, and in many cases found services that weren’t needed as often as they were being delivered. For example, emergency lighting checks were happening monthly  at some sites—but compliance only requires quarterly. That one small tweak helped cut costs without compromising safety.

Chipping Away at Reactive Maintenance Costs

We set an ambitious target: reduce the average cost of Reactive Maintenance (RM) work orders by 5% in the first year.
To hit that goal, we had to rethink how we collected and used cost data. We stripped out extra cost variables (like travel time), and made sure everyone—us and our subcontractors—was capturing work order info consistently in our system, EventManager.
This gave us a clear view of:

• Average job costs, month by month
• Overall RM cost trends
• How subcontractors and trades compared

With these insights, we could see exactly who was providing the best value—and where changes were needed. This allowed us to make smarter decisions around subcontractor selection and negotiate better rates. The result? We didn’t just meet our target—we beat it, achieving a 5.7% reduction in average RM costs.

Smarter FM. Real Results.

By blending day-to-day operational know-how with smart, real-time data insights, we’ve helped NZ Police cut costs, improve transparency, and boost the overall quality of FM delivery.

This is what modern facilities management looks like: thoughtful, responsive, and always focused on delivering maximum value for every dollar spent.