When facilities managers are asked to trim budgets, outdoor winter maintenance can often come under scrutiny. If the previous winter has been mild then it can seem like an easy saving on paper. However, gambling on the weather is a risk that almost always backfires.
The hidden cost of ‘doing just enough’ stretches well beyond icy car parks and untreated pavements. A single fall can lead to costly claims, staff absence, lost productivity and reputational damage. In multi-tenant offices or serviced workplaces, unsafe conditions can even threaten lease renewals and client trust. Betting against the British winter is like playing poker with a stacked deck: the odds are against you, and when you lose, you lose big.
To understand how quickly things can unravel, let’s look at a practical example. NB – this is fictionalised version based on a several real case studies. Imagine an office complex called Riverside Business Centre – a large serviced office complex on the outskirts of a major UK city. Home to 40 tenant companies, from start-ups to established corporates, it houses more than 1,500 employees across four interconnected buildings, with shared reception areas, meeting rooms and extensive car parking. For years, the managing agent maintained a proactive winter contract costing around £20,000 annually, covering car parks, access roads and pedestrian walkways. But in late 2024, facing pressure to reduce overheads, the decision is made to cancel the contract and adopt a reactive approach. It seems like a smart saving as many recent winters have been mild, so management gamble that icy spells can be handled quickly by calling in gritters when needed.
One morning in January, the luck runs out. Overnight temperatures plummet to minus five. Staff arriving early find untreated car parks and walkways frozen solid. Within the first hour, two employees from different tenant firms slip badly on the icy entrance steps, requiring ambulance treatment and hospital visits. Inside, confusion and frustration spread as staff arrived late, struggling to make their way from car parks to offices. Several tenants advise employees to work from home rather than risk injury. By mid-morning, half the complex is operating below capacity.
The estates team scramble to arrange gritting, but with no service level agreement in place, the earliest response available is six hours away. By the time contractors arrive, the damage has been done. A viral LinkedIn post from one affected employee read, “£2,000 a month rent and they can’t even grit the car park. Riverside Business Centre is a joke.” The post gathers hundreds of shares, attracting the attention of local media.
The financial impact is significant. The two injury claims are settled at an average of £35,000 each, including legal fees. Insurers raise premiums by 10% over three years, adding £50,000 in additional costs. Several tenants demand compensation for lost productivity, estimating that delays and staff absences over just two days had cost them a combined £75,000. Worse still, three tenants chose not to renew their leases that spring, citing safety and poor site management as contributing factors. That decision alone costs £500,000 in lost rental income over the following three years with lasting reputational scars making it harder to attract new tenants. In this example of cascading effects, betting on a £20,000 ‘saving’ looks absurd.
The Riverside story may be fictional, but the risks it illustrates are very real. Across the UK, slips and trips are the leading cause of workplace injury in winter. For corporate offices and serviced workplaces, the stakes are especially high. Unlike industrial or logistics estates, office environments thrive on perception and trust. Staff and tenants expect safe, accessible spaces. One incident of untreated ice can erode confidence instantly, damaging a landlord or managing agent’s reputation in ways that reverberate far beyond a single cold snap.
Operational disruption is another hidden cost. In an age where hybrid working is the norm, a day lost to unsafe conditions may seem manageable, but the reputational fallout is not. Tenants paying premium rents expect their people to work safely and seamlessly. A car park that is too dangerous to use undermines confidence in the very purpose of serviced office space: to provide reliable, professional environments that tenants don’t have to worry about managing themselves.
There is also the question of accountability. Without adequate records, liability often falls on the decision makers in facilities management.
Moreover, higher standards of what count as adequate and reasonable steps has left those playing a more amateur game increasingly exposed. The gritting industry has become highly professionalised, with the best providers like OUTCO able to deliver gritting schedules, GPS-powered breadcrumb trails of where and when salt has been laid, and records of the forecast data used to back decisions. When things go wrong, being seen to fall short of this higher bar can appear reckless.
Given all these risks, why does winter maintenance still fall victim to budget cuts? Part of the answer is a tendency to underestimate low-frequency, high-impact events. To avoid such traps requires a mindset shift to treat winter maintenance as an investment rather than a cost. This starts with a clear-eyed risk audit, reviewing past incidents and quantifying exposure. Compare the annual cost of proactive gritting with the potential losses from even one serious incident. Build a business case that positions winter services as insurance against multi-million-pound risk. And choose a provider who can deliver guaranteed response times, accurate forecasting and full audit trails.
At OUTCO, we work with office landlords, serviced workplace providers and managing agents across the UK to take luck out of the equation. By combining live meteorological data with pre-agreed service schedules, our teams can treat surfaces before ice has a chance to form. Our digital reporting systems give clients the evidence they need to demonstrate compliance, protect against claims and reassure stakeholders. Most importantly, our proactive model removes luck from the equation. Facilities managers don’t need to gamble on the weather; they can be confident they are prepared.
The lesson from Riverside Business Centre is clear. The most expensive decision an FM can make is to cut corners on winter maintenance. What looks like a canny saving can easily snowball into huge liability. With winter fast approaching and budgets under pressure, facilities managers face a choice: make a small investment in proactive safety or keep rolling the dice.
For more information on how OUTCO can bring an innovative approach to your winter gritting, contact 0800 0432 911 or email: enquiries@outco.co.uk or visit: www.outco.co.uk
By Brendan Aherne, Chief Operating Officer, OUTCO