Who Are ACR ?

As a Design & Build Commercial Interiors Business, Ive been asked... "how do you offer something different?"

Where do I start?

When you meet our management team you will undoubtably meet Jen Sahota , my partner in marriage and business (we are actually grand parents) , she saved my life 8 years ago when she urged me to make a change following health concerns and the fact that at 37 years old I was literally dying. She also supported me and urged me to take the plunge and form ACR after I had spent many years working for much larger MEP/Fit Out organisations and I was becoming increasingly frustrated at the way organisations delivered substandard service whilst viewing their clients as a means to extract money.

Pink Thiara is Jenny’s Sister, she worked for a major FM player for many years before joining us on our Journey and now supports me day to day.

Pinkys Husband (David) is our electrical supervisor and joined us at the end of 2018 after spending 20 years with a well known M&E contractor.

You may also get to meet a young lady called Rihanna Kaur, Riri is Pinky and Dave’s eldest daughter and is studying with aspirations to forge a career in architecture, she provides assistance and also keeps me from falling back into the trap of trying to be normal (we will get to that in a?bit!)

I pulled Peter Finch (my father) out of retirement when I formed ACR as he has many years’ experience in M&E and FM (and it got him out of my mums hair). Unfortunately he is now of poor health so he is back “under her feet”.

Geoff Hone and I are 3 days apart in age, his mother and mine were also only 3 beds along from each other in the same ward when we were born, there isn’t much we haven’t done together (experiencing the closing party at Space Ibiza as well as weddings and funerals along the way).

Mike Green Santoshi Padhiar Andrew Thackeray Matthew Zammit and the remaining characters in our feature are very experienced and knowledgeable misfits (they actually consider this term complimentary and wouldn’t want it any other way), some of which are freelance which allows them to continue with their own business ventures but also allows ACR to remain "lean" (subsequently proving another avenue where we can ensure completive pricing).

A requirement when recruiting is "must be quirky" and I have personally these 'oddballs" for many years, they have since become family friends. Watching our QS talk numbers with my bemused mum at the ACR Xmas party is always funny.?

Jay Macdonald (Google Jayondrums) was a club percussionist playing bongos and congas internationally at every well known club (Pascha, MOS etc) weddings, "Pippa Middleton’s" and was also booked for Harry and Megans but the organiser didn’t process his security clearance documents in time (big bummer).

When Covid struck and clubs closed and weddings ceased Jay came to me (Id known him for many years from when I was putting on “parties” in a past life) and told me he was down on his luck (like a lot of people and especially entertainers at the time). We had just started a big project and I gave him the opportunity to assist on site, with his pragmatic approach he gained a Site Safety Supervisor Qualification, First Aider and Fire Marshal certification within weeks off his own back and over the months to follow truly embedded himself within ACR, he has been with us through thick and thin since.

As part of our assurance of quality to our Healthcare clients I ensure that even our admin staff receive GMP training if they are to be involved with a pharmaceutical project or contract, a bit of our Passion, Meraki and Love demonstrated.

And Me...

I don’t “think outside the box” I pretty much reside there, I don’t conform. I ask "why should we do things a certain way just because that’s how its always done?" If we keep doing that or If I keep doing just what is expected, ACR would become the same as all of the previous businesses/employers that I felt uneasy about.

This all sets the tone for our Unique Selling Points. Rihanna Thiara and her dynamic personality (and social media skills, and youth and energy) helps me to stay “outside the box” and refrain from entering back into the conforms of the norm.

I mentioned my own health concerns, it was a wake up call, with the exception of a couple of "one night stands with it" I gave up alcohol completely back in 2016, at the same time I removed sugar from my life, I started to be more conscious around what I fed my body, mind and soul, adding mindfulness to my life. Having a awakening was humbling and life changing, it made me realise that being "normal" was not a "positive", acceptance around not conforming and went towards the eventual formation of ACR Facilities & Interiors Ltd.

It was then that I realised that being a business owner was not about 4 holidays a year, a villa in the sun and a supercar, it was about putting the food on the table for the people you love to share food with!

We remain lean as a business to allow us to be competitive in the market and at the same time provide a indescribable level of attention at lot of clients do not already experience and wish for.

We have been known to work so closely with our clients through the design process that they come to view us a temporary department of their own organisation.?

From the parts I personally really love (taking clients around Clerkenwell Showrooms to view furniture, colours, fabrics and finishes then sitting with them as we discuss all of the opportunities and how the looks and items will fit into their space planning that we are working on for them) through the entire build then when we finally slot that chosen furniture into place and hand them back the keys with the space ready for them to trade form that day onwards.

All of the time we are delivering with Passion, Meraki and Love because we hold a real sense of gratitude as a close knit family orientated business with values that seem lost these days.

We are not your cheapest option, we do not want to be, we cannot compete with “A man, in a Van” (with his brother, son and sometimes dog) who will rock up without accreditations or the additional insurance policy’s we hold and who cannot provide H&S documents for their work . We deliver exceptional value for service without cutting corners or compromising quality.

ACR is a truly unique “Boutique” fit out, refurbishment and FM contractor owned and managed by 1 man (me) who is fully supported by a team of misfits who also share the same core values.?

And that is how we offer “something different”,

That is how we deliver with Passion, Meraki and Love, we love what we do and know that you will love it too.

Yours Always,

John Peter Finch

Finchy x