Google’s Stress Free London Office
December 8, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning , 3 commentsGoogle’s London headquarters in Victoria was already amongst the most envied place to work in the capital and why not in the whole of the UK. What was good just got even better, last week Google opened the doors to the brand new floor designed to inspire and keep its employees at the top of their game.
Relaxation areas, games room, corridors inspired on the insides of the SS Enterprise, meeting rooms with sofas and loads of cushions make it one of the trendiest work environments in the world. A dream come true to any employee not to mention an office cleaning company.
Nelson Mattos, Google’s Vice President of Engineering, said: ‘We hire the brightest and best engineers in the UK and put them together in a highly creative, relaxed and exciting environment.’
The office has four FREE restaurants including a tapas and sushi bar and a “coffee lab” with nothing less than 19 different blends of coffee.
Labelled L4, this dream come true office also has a gym, games room with pool table and gaming consoles as well as a sound-proofed music room with drums and guitars.
Mattos adds: ‘Contrary to accepted wisdom, fun offices don’t hurt. Our experience is that a comfortable, open and fun environment encourages creativity and openness.
‘Open spaces make chance interactions more likely and chance interactions often lead to the greatest ideas.
‘Many of our products came from unrelated teams finding out about each other’s work and physically meeting to discuss fresh approaches.’
Google’s London office one of the corner stones of its global operation. Voice search, personalised local search and the most popular Android and iPhone apps were created in there.
Recently Google announced a new service that will boost the cleaning industry but image landing a contract with the search giant to clean that state-of-the-art office.
For competitively price office cleaning services in London contact Total Clean, 15 years of experience in office cleaning London.
Cleaning for a Cause
November 11, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning , add a commentCharitable work is a very honourable act especially when you clean up after it. That is exactly what a North East cleaning company is doing. Offering cleaning services to charity shops, offices and industrial centres to raise money for charities.
Entitled Cleaners for Causes, this “charitable cleaning company” started off by offering retail dry cleaning services to charity shops but it is no expanding its range of business to offices and industrial centre around the North East of England.
Cleaners for Causes director Craig Heathcote said:
“We’ve been working with local charities for some time and, having spoken with their corporate supporters, it was obvious to us that there was demand for a professional and well-priced service that drove charitable revenue, built charitable awareness and met corporate social responsibility goals.
“Our service vehicles can visit all manner of workplaces, from offices to industrial sites and village garages, picking up clothing, curtains, covers and work wear, so any firm or employee can get involved, no matter how small.
“Our billing systems also allow us to produce a bespoke invoice that tracks how much each individual customer is raising for St Oswald’s Hospice, or whichever charity they’re supporting.”
It sure is an honourable way to do business but I don’t think the trend will catch with office cleaning companies here in London. But it wouldn’t put London office cleaning companies out of business just for doing the odd cleaning job to raise money to their local charity.
For competitively priced office cleaning in central London and surrounding areas contact Total Clean now for no obligation quote.
Dirty Keyboards are Bacteria Hives
October 19, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning, computer cleaning , 1 comment so farAccording to a survey from a well established office supplies company dirty keyboard are bacteria hives that could increase the transmission of cold and flu as the cold season approaches.
Bacteria’s are an essential part of our day to day lives, we have it in and outside our body and without them we would be very sick indeed. While I’m no advocating dirty lifestyles certain types of bacteria work as defence systems of our bodies.
Speaking to BBC News, cleaning expert Aggie Mackenzie said that 99% of bacteria’s are harmless and it is with the 1% that we need to be watchful of.
The survey swabbed a number of office keyboards from around the country and found bacterias such as Staphylococcus, Bacillus and Micrococcus, indicating a poor level of hygiene and that changes in office habits like hot desking and eating while working are the cause of such dirtiness.
Dr Lisa Ackerley, an environmental hygiene expert, said: “This research has shown that there are some very unhygienic desks right now in office across the UK, which is very worrying as those who work in open-plan offices tend to start coming down with illnesses this time of year.”
She added: “Keeping equipment such as keyboards, phones and desks as germ-free as possible is even more important during the cold and flu season.”
Despite need for a change in habits of office workers, office cleaning companies should take the blame for the dirtiness found on the surveyed desktops. It is an essential part of any office cleaning job to make sure keyboards and phone are cleaned and disinfected regularly.
Carlos Garcia, owner of an office cleaning company in central London said: “The results of this survey are rather worrying and show that office habits should be revised and office cleaning companies should emphasize with their workers the importance of cleaning and disinfecting desktops”.
It is important to note that electrical equipment can not be cleaned with any polish or cleaning product. Use the wrong products and you will end up damaging them.
If you are not sure what to use, Total Clean Services Ltd offers bespoke computer and telephone equipment cleaning, for more information please contact us.
Report on the state of the Cleaning Industry worldwide
August 11, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News , 1 comment so farBack in September 2009 members of the World Federation of Building Service Contractors gathered in Vienna to participate in the annual conference to discuss the state of the cleaning industry worldwide.
Participants included industry representatives from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, UK and the USA. The purpose of this report is to discuss the key themes and issues reported from the conference and to suggest how they will impact cleaning businesses in the future.
It is estimated that the cleaning industry generates total revenue of 35 billion Pounds worldwide based on the data provided by the WFBSC members. Off course this is an under estimate of the true size of the cleaning industry. If we were to include non-members of the WFBSC and countries like Chine and Indian numbers would be much higher.
According to data provided by WFBSC member countries the cleaning industry employs 4.5 million people worldwide. It is estimated the in the UK the cleaning industry employs 452,000 people but then again numbers could be higher since the relationship with between the UK and the WFBSC inconstant. Countries like Japan and Brazil the number of jobs generated by the industry surpass the 1 million mark.
This is only the first part of a series of articles about the state of the cleaning industry worldwide and it is important to note that the data used to compile this report was based on numbers provided by members of WFBSC from the year of 2010.
Next week we take a look at the macroeconomic context influencing the cleaning industry and current market conditions.
Source: http://www.wfbsc.org/news/The%20Worldwide%20Cleaning%20Industry.pdf
For experienced and reliable office cleaning in London contact Total Clean now!
Office Cleaning is on the Rise in Central London
August 3, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning , 2 commentsDemand for office space is high all over the UK but in particular London, where more and more companies are looking for commercial spaces in the capital. A new development or should I say redevelopment by a well-known property firm that is being built in central London should benefit central London office cleaning companies.
The new commercial complex being built in Covent Garden will consist mainly of Grade A office spaces. The project is a redevelopment by Legal & General Property and it will cost the company £65 million making it the biggest project of its kind in this particular area in 2012.
In total 55,000 sq ft are being built with a focus not only in catering for the growing demand of office spaces in the area but also with great emphasis on sustainability. For starters bicycle units and showering facilities are being implemented to encourage workers to cycle to work.
This is great news for office cleaning companies providing their services in central London where the market seems to be saturated due to the lack of office spaces in the area. But new developments such as this one from L&G is giving new hopes for London office cleaning companies which are already working hard to secure future contracts once these new buildings are ready.
While office cleaning companies are working hard to provide competitive quotes for their services, the demand for property is becoming so intense that property market analysts are predicting that rents would spiral due to such high demand and lack of new office space.
Grade A Offices Construction to Boost Office Cleaning Industry
July 5, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning , 1 comment so farDemand for high-profile offices is on the increase in London where at the moment the segment is experiencing shortages due to the lack of Grade A office spaces available. But a recent report from the CPA (Construction Products Association) says that things are about to change considerably over the next five years.
Back in May we reported that demand for Grade A offices is high across the UK including London and the construction of such office spaces had dropped considerably over the past year. But this new report from the CPA gave new hopes for the construction industry as a whole.
The report says that in the next five years the building of offices will climb by more than 50 per cent. Growth of high-profile London offices is set to have a positive impact upon the construction industry as well as on indirectly related business such as London office cleaning companies and estate agents.
Commenting on the industry as a whole, CPA economics director Noble Francis stated that output in 2011 will retreat by 0.5 per cent, “followed by a greater fall of 2.8 per cent in 2012. In 2013 output will be broadly flat with just 0.2 per cent growth, before a return to some significant growth of 3.4 per cent in 2014″.
One of the biggest high profile projects waiting to be announced is the new one million sq ft Goldman Sachs offices to be built beside the current London headquarters of Goldman Sachs. A dream come true to any London office cleaning company.
According to Property Week Goldman Sachs has up to 1.5 million sq ft of office spaces in London and it is planning to buy even more spaces like Plumbtree Court which is currently let to PricewaterhouseCoopers and has a market value of £94 million.
This is great news for cleaning companies providing office cleaning services in London. With more offices being built specially these high-profile offices, the cleaning industry will surely benefit from it.
Office Cleaners Should be Paid More, says research
June 10, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning , 1 comment so farA recent research conducted by the Institute for Public Policy Research revealed that two-thirds of the British working population would support government action to increase the wages of low-paid workers, including office cleaners.
The report also concluded that the gap in pay between top and bottom levels of a organisation is constantly growing and government, business and trade unions should sit down to discuss ways to make pay fairer for low-paid workers. It also revealed that there is strong public opposition to this growing pay gap.
The research interviewed 2,337 members of the public and the great majority, 82% agreed that it is down to the Government to redress growing pay inequalities in both the public and private sectors. Using the example of office cleaners who earn on average £14,000 – should get a 19% pay rise, suggested the research.
When questioned about the findings of this research Chairman of the British Cleaning Council Mark Woodhead said:
“These results chime with our own efforts to raise the status of cleaners, and show that in the public’s mind, cleaners are not being paid fairly, people clearly want to see cleaners who work hard and do a decent job receive more recognition and better rewards. “Fair pay and the value we place on cleaning is one of the major challenges we face as an industry, and it will be a key component of the debate on corporate social responsibility that will take place at our October conference.”
The British cleaning industry is a multi-million pound industry that needs to be closely monitored by the government and trade unions like the British Cleaning Council so injustices are not committed to its workers and so the money doesn’t stay at the top of the pyramid.
In October the British Cleaning Council will hold a session on fair pay and living wage at the annual British Cleaning Conference in London.
About the British Cleaning Council
The British Cleaning Council is the voice of the UK cleaning industry. It was established in 1982 to coordinate the affairs of the industry and to be responsible at home and abroad on industry matters. http://www.britishcleaningcouncil.org/
Tickets for the British Cleaning Council can be purchased at the following web address: http://www.britishcleaningcouncil.org/cleaningconference.html
For competitively priced London office cleaning services please contact Total Clean for a no obligation quote.
Demand for New Offices is high across the UK
May 17, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning , 2 commentsOver the past year the construction of office spaces in the UK has declined considerably with only 38,000 square feet of new units under construction or set to be built this year. Not the kind of news office cleaning companies around the country would like to hear.
According to industry experts the supply will remain very limited in the forthcoming year. The segment that is experiencing the biggest shortages is the Grade A segment where developers who strategically position themselves could reap the benefits of this shortage.
Meanwhile this is by no means good news for office cleaning companies across the country who will find themselves competing for contracts as competition gets tougher.
But luckily for office cleaners working on one of the six key industrial areas that shouldn’t be of any concern as the number of vacancies in these areas is below four per cent, indicating that there is still a demand for new offices.
That is exactly what is happening in London, where a surge in office sales and rents should increase the procurement for office cleaning services.
The demand for office space is growing rapidly but not a sufficient pace to change the mood of investors and incite them to invest in building more Grade A offices not only in London but across the land.
For competitively priced office cleaning in London contact Total Clean Office Cleaning Services.
Surge in Office Sales to Benefit London Office Cleaning Companies
May 16, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News, Office Cleaning , 3 commentsLondon office cleaning companies are preparing themselves for a highly likely surge in the procurement for their services. This follows a survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) revealing that office sales lead the way in commercial property sales in the first quarter of 2011.
According to 43% of surveyors demand for office spaces in London has increased considerably, in particular for “Grade A” offices which in some areas the lack of new stock is leading to lower levels of availability.
The increase in interest for office spaces in London is a clear sign of the economic recovery of the financial services industry with more and more companies looking to expand their operations in the capital.
This is great news for London office cleaning companies who should experience an increase in the demand for their office cleaning services.
But the industry might face a long term problem as supply is falling quickly and offices being constructed not only in London but across the UK are at a low level.
“The survey does encouragingly suggest that demand to take up space is growing outside of the capital but not at a sufficient pace to change the mood on the rental outlook,” commented Rics chief economist Simon Rubinsohn.
For competitively priced office cleaning services in central London and surrounding areas contact Total Clean Office Cleaning Specialists.
The World’s Most Dangerous Cleaning Job
April 14, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning News , 4 commentsCleaning is considered by many to be a risk free job, cleaners do have to take certain precautions with safety but in general the risks are minimal.
Well not for this brave zoo cleaner who has to clean a snake pit full of deadly Cobras armed with a broom and wearing his “safety equipment”, flip flops and a head band essential pieces of equipment for this type of cleaning job.
The fearless cleaner simply picks up the sleeping snakes and tosses them over to the side to clean their dried egg shells and poop. Don’t believe me? Watch the video below and see for yourselves.
Here at Total Clean we don’t offer snake pit cleaning but for competitive priced office cleaning services in London do not hesitate to call us first for a quote. Our office cleaners aren’t as brave as that zoo cleaner but they sure are as competent.
