Investment in creating impressive, modern office space mustn’t stop when everything is ready and the team moves in. Investment in maintaining the professional environment it was designed to achieve is equally important.
Office Space Cleaning mainly focuses on clients in the West End and City and offers so much more than a traditional cleaning service. Its teams service almost 30 buildings, ranging from 7,000 square feet up to 70,000 square feet – and providing a comprehensive range of services from daily serviced office cleans, through to on-site janitorial services and deep cleans between tenants or, increasingly common these days, for companies with staff either returning to the office post-pandemic or that want regular antimicrobial treatments to keep workers safe.
Run by James Carver and Daisy Spain, Office Space Cleaning employs over 100 staff, mainly cleaners, organised through a series of area managers and supervisors to ensure standards are maintained.
James said: “I was looking for a new venture and a former business partner mentioned to me that the two main pain points in offices were poor internet and poor cleaning – so I decided to move into the cleaning business.
“Standard cleaning is fairly straightforward, but our target market was always the larger offices, predominantly multi-tenanted buildings, where we offer much more than an office clean at the end of the day.
“Companies pride themselves on the look of their offices, and they invest a lot of money, spending anything from five to twenty million on refits, and when they have done that, they want to know that the cleaning team are going to do more than wipe round with a duster. On occasion, we have been involved in fit-outs from the start, advising on what flooring works best and is easy to keep clean, what surfaces to go for and how specialist cleaning might be needed on certain materials.”
Office Space Cleaning understands that multi-tenanted offices have particular needs – flexibility and security being paramount. Different tenants work different hours, some vacating the premises at the end of the normal working day but not all – some prefer a clean each working day, others once a week. Dedicated supervisors work with all tenants to come up with a schedule that meets individual needs.
Similarly, there may well be businesses in the same sector working alongside one another in the same building, so the peace of mind that each office is accessed securely and then locked up by cleaning staff when they are finished is vitally important.
Daisy Spain said: “My background is in the service office sector and so I understand the needs of a workspace where a range of different businesses with different needs are together. The requirements of the client are the most important aspect of the work we do, making sure they get the cleaning they need, when they need it, to fit in with their arrangements.
“There’s also a janitorial service, which provides a dedicated in-house daytime supervisor who’s there to keep the building clean, and do things like clearing and preparing meeting rooms, keep kitchen facilities clean and stocked – that’s something a lot of our clients find works for them.”
During the pandemic, with many offices closed, Office Space Cleaning liaised with clients to adapt to changing needs. Flexibility was key and the ultimate goal was to maintain a service that suited clients and keep workspaces maintained throughout various lockdown periods.
James explained: “We furloughed a proportion of our own staff, but we kept teams on for those clients that needed us. No pressure was put on clients over contract terms or what we could or couldn’t do, if they needed us, we worked something out.
“Buildings need some basic maintenance even if there’s no-one in them and so we did what we needed to. It was a period of adjustment, and we’re just starting to get back to normal now, and I think it changed the way a lot of people view hygiene and cleaning.
“I think it’s going to be a difficult autumn and winter, whether it is coronavirus, winter flu or just colds, people are far more conscious now of germs in offices and businesses will need to make their employees feel safe in the office environment.”
Office Space Cleaning provides an antimicrobial treatment similar to that used by Transport for London to make trains and buses safer for passengers. It’s a water-based treatment that is food-safe and contains no harmful chemicals, but coats surfaces with a ‘kill layer’ that destroys viruses as they land on it.
This, combined with regular deep cleans, look set to be the future in the cleaning sector, certainly in the immediate future.
“I think we will see caution for some time,” said James. “We’ve all become aware about touching surfaces and being in close proximity to someone with a cold or a cough, and I think workers will expect more focus on workplace cleanliness.
“Clients have been asking for deep cleans before their teams return to the office, and I think that will become a regular thing. We need people back in offices, the economy depends on it. A lot of money is tied up in property by organisations that rely on the income for long-term investments like pension schemes. It really is in everyone’s interest to make offices safe again and get people back to work – for the tenant business itself and for the wider economy.”
Find out more about the services offered by Office Space Cleaning at www.officespacecleaning.co.uk or call 020 3795 2400.