Spotlight: Meet Louise Vale

In this spotlight, we’re delighted to introduce Louise Vale, one of our highly skilled Project Managers. Louise brings a wealth of experience in delivering successful projects, ensuring that every detail aligns with our high standards.

Louise, can you tell us about your background and what led you to your role at Ashton Fire?

I've been with Ashton Fire for 4.5 years, always working in the Projects Team. Before that, I worked in project roles at another fire engineering company and in retail, giving me over eight years of experience in project delivery and customer service. This has helped me fully understand the entire project process from start to finish.

What are the key functions of the projects team?

The projects team provides support and coordination for both the technical team and our clients. We are the first contact clients may have with Ashton Fire. We take all the administration off the team so they can focus on the deliverables.

How do you support the technical team and other departments?

We are here to support and help the technical team in any way they need. We will set projects up, draft fee proposals, liaise with clients on timescales and queries, process reports for validation and issue to the clients, complete all invoicing on projects, complete competency questionnaires and new supplier set-ups, deal with invoice queries, close down projects and collate feedback.

What makes your skill set and the support your team provides stand out in the industry?

The amount we do for the technical team to enable them to focus on fire safety and delivery of work to the clients is really unique compared with other companies. If there is a task an Engineer is doing that we can help and support, then we are always here to take that off them so they can focus on supporting their clients.

How does your understanding of Ashton Fire's services contribute to your effectiveness???????

Understanding the business as a whole, what we can offer, and who is the best person to speak to for different projects/clients/scopes helps speed up daily tasks. We do not have to go around the houses to find the answer to a query, which in turn improves the overall experience for our clients. They can be put in touch with the right person in a timely manner, or we can answer their query.

With many moving parts in fire safety consultancy, what strategies or tools do you use to manage project timelines, client expectations, and internal tasks?

We have an internal project management system that tracks all our projects, and we constantly liaise with the team and clients to ensure communication is there and everyone is aware of the timelines. Should any slip, we are aware of these and can inform the relevant party, so no one has to constantly chase up with no answers.

Open communication is the key amongst all teams. Everyone will talk to each other; there are no barriers between teams, and it’s all very open, so we are able to support each other.

Looking back on your time with Ashton Fire, is there a particular project or achievement that stands out to you as especially rewarding?

When Ashton Fire started, we used an Excel spreadsheet to track projects, which wasn’t the most efficient way to keep track. We then implemented our project management system, which we have been using since early 2021, helping to implement this system and then the ongoing work to tweak the system and create the reports it generates so we can have visibility across the business of where we are going, what we are doing, is something that took a lot of work but very rewarding to see the benefits and the data we can see on our projects and overall across the business.

How do you and your team stay up to date with changes in fire safety regulations and best practices?

We have quarterly full team get-togethers in which the projects team will sit in on the presentations that the Fire Engineers and Consultants deliver. This helps with understanding what they are doing and what is changing.

This time spent with them is invaluable because it gives us insight into the fire safety world. We will also attend site visits with the consultants. This helps us understand any challenges they may face on-site and means we can speak to clients with more in-depth knowledge.

If you’d like to learn more about how Louise and the Ashton Fire team can support your next project, please get in touch with us today.