Excellent 5* Rating
Thornton Facilities Management Secures Over £320,000
Client – Thornton Facilities Management
Industry – Facilities Management
Service Provided – Business Water Procurement & Market Review
The Challenge
Thornton Facilities Management approached us ahead of their water contract renewal. While they were satisfied with the service provided by their current supplier, they wanted to review the market to ensure they were getting the most competitive pricing — particularly with a longer-term deal in mind. A key requirement was keeping their existing billing setup unchanged.
""We weren’t unhappy with our current provider, but we wanted to be sure we were getting a competitive deal. The team helped us secure a great long-term rate without changing our billing process — and delivered significant savings in the process.""Procurement Representative, Thorntons Facilities Management
£320,000
Forecast savings
£7,000,000
Predicted contract spend
5 Year
Contract Term
Case study
Thornton Facilities Management: £320,000 saved on a five-year renewal, billing setup untouched
Thornton weren’t unhappy with their existing supplier. They wanted to know they were getting a competitive rate before signing a five-year renewal, and they didn’t want to rebuild the billing process they’d set up internally. We benchmarked the market and got both.
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Last updated August 2026
Why Thornton came to us
Thornton manages water across a portfolio of client sites. Their procurement team had a five-year renewal coming up with their existing supplier and the question they wanted answering was straightforward. Is the rate we’re being offered actually competitive, or are we just renewing because the relationship works?
The catch was that the operations team had spent time setting up Thornton’s side of the existing supplier’s billing. Invoice format, cost-centre coding, portal access, payment terms — all configured around how Thornton actually runs its accounts. A saving on paper that costs the operations team three months to absorb internally isn’t really a saving.
So the brief had two parts. Show us where the market is. Don’t recommend anything that means we have to rebuild a process.
We weren’t unhappy with our current provider, but we wanted to be sure we were getting a competitive deal. The team helped us secure a great long-term rate without changing our billing process — and delivered significant savings in the process.
Procurement Representative · Thornton Facilities Management
What we did
Benchmarked the offered rate against the market
We took the rate Thornton was being offered for the renewal and ran it past the retailers who tend to be most competitive on multi-site FM accounts at that volume.
Negotiated a long-term, locked-in rate
Five-year commitments give retailers volume certainty. We pushed on that to get a sharper unit rate back than a one-year deal would have produced.
Filtered the shortlist for billing compatibility
The retailers we put in front of Thornton were ones we’d already checked could replicate the existing invoice format, cost-centre coding and portal access. The procurement team got to pick on price, not on whether their colleagues had a project to do afterwards.
What changed
Over £320,000 in forecast savings
Across the five years, the agreed rate is forecast to save Thornton over £320k versus where a straight renewal with the incumbent would have left them.
£7m of contract spend on a tested rate
Every supply across every site Thornton manages is now sitting on a rate that’s been tested against the market rather than assumed competitive.
No change to the billing setup
Invoice format, cost-centre tagging and portal access all stayed the same. The procurement team got the saving without their colleagues inheriting any work.
Common questions
Why bother reviewing the market if you’re happy with your supplier?
A renewal is still a commitment. Without testing the market you’re trusting that the rate offered is competitive, rather than knowing it is. The market test costs the supplier’s margin, not yours, and the incumbent will often sharpen their pencil once they know one is happening.
Did Thornton actually have to switch retailers to get the saving?
Not necessarily. The point of a market review is leverage and benchmarking. The saving can come from moving to a new retailer or from a renegotiated deal with the existing one. Either way, the customer ends up on a competitive rate.
How does a longer contract get you a better unit rate?
Retailers price uncertainty into shorter contracts. A one-year deal forces them to assume they’ll have to win you back next year. A five-year commitment removes that risk and a portion of the saving lands in the unit rate.
What does “preserving the billing setup” mean in practice?
For an FM business it usually covers invoice format, cost-centre tagging, portal access, payment terms, and how invoices are consolidated across sites. We filter the shortlist down to retailers who can replicate that, so nobody inherits an internal rebuild project on top of a saving.
Could a similar review work for our portfolio?
If you’re approaching renewal, manage water across multiple sites, or are about to commit to a long-term rate, a market review is usually worth running. We’d start by benchmarking what you’re currently paying against what the market would actually offer for your volume.
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Got a renewal coming up?
We’ll benchmark your current contract against what’s actually available, negotiate on your behalf, and only suggest changes you’d want to make. That includes staying with your current supplier if that’s the right call.
