Case Studies

Since April 2022, we have delivered cleaning services at the London offices of social housing provider Wandle Housing Association Ltd. (WHA).

The works – delivered across the site’s six toilets, two urinals, one bathroom, one large kitchen, one large open plan office space, various meeting boots and five medium-sized offices – include:

• Vacuuming floors, including vinyl and carpet
• Cleaning toilets, sinks, shower, sanitary bins, mirrors, and mopping floors
• Refilling the coffee machine, emptying bins
• Sanitising office keyboards, desktops, and telephones
• Loading and unloading the dishwasher
• Cleaning and disinfecting kitchen worktops, fridges, microwaves, windows, walls, and skirtings
• Refilling soap dispensers, replenishing toilet roll and hand paper towels

Site-inducted operative completes the works during twenty five-hour shifts per week, delivered 5–10pm Monday–Friday, with ad hoc site visits from Field Manager to ensure a consistently high standard of service is provided.

A pool of 5 locally-based contingent operatives are also available to provide continuity in the event of unplanned absence (e.g. due to sickness).

Mobilisation

Upon award, our management team attended a pre-start meeting with WHA to establish the scope of works required, preferred frequencies of each task, and length of shift necessary to deliver them. Once the scope was agreed and signed off by WHA, the cleaner’s competency was ensured via:

• Site inductions, delivered by HR covering site-specific RAMS, emergency protocols, and site sign-in and lock-up procedures.
• Contract-specific training from the field manager, including briefings on the quoted services, safe systems of work, and reporting requirements.

Performance management

In addition to ad hoc supervisory visits from the field manager, delivery of a consistently high standard of service was managed via:

• Real-time site updates, such as shift sign-ins/outs, uploaded to our contract management software via mobile app
• Monthly inspections, supplemented by ad hoc inspections to ensure quality standards were consistently met
• Monthly review meetings with WHA’s facilities manager to discuss adherence to schedule, updated requirements and customer feedback, implementing SMART plans to drive continuous improvement
• Quarterly audits to review performance against contractual obligations, including KPIs, quality standards and reporting requirements.

To facilitate swift resolution of any issues/queries, our client services team were also available 24/7 via telephone/email, maximising client satisfaction.

Key challenges and outcomes

We were initially contracted to deliver works at WHA’s London Bridge office and were retained when they moved to their current Blackfriars’ site (SE1 8NW) in October 2022. Extra shifts were provided at short notice to facilitate the move, and WHA later awarded their allocated cleaner a £100 bonus to express their gratitude for the high-quality service delivered, commenting:

“Ali has worked hard for us today and last week (with the additional mess created by our move) and is doing a great job even with the transition of the move to the new building.”

Another challenge arose when WHA’s facilities manager died suddenly, and we had to establish effective lines of communication with their replacement. To manage this, Client Services Manager Kate Howard oversaw:

• An initial meeting to introduce our team
• Continuous email communications to facilitate a seamless transition
• Weekly meetings to review performance, phased to quarterly with WHA’s approval

As a result of these measures, a 100% client satisfaction rating has been maintained, evidencing the consistently high standard of service we provide.