Europe’s Coolest Offices: Nykredit’s Office in Copenhagen
January 25, 2012 Posted by Administrator in : Office Cleaning , add a commentHere at Total Clean we are passionate about offices not only because our job is to clean them but because we like to appreciate the innovations and designs of today’s office spaces. With that in mind we decided to start a new series of articles to show you Europe’s coolest offices.
Recently we compiled a list with what we think are the World’s Coolest Offices and now decided to keep on our quest for more cool offices but this time we will focus only in Europe.
We start our series with Nykredit’s Office in Copenhagen. Nykredit is one of Europe’s leading financial services providers with commercial and mortgage banking as cornerstones. In addition, Nykredit has activities within insurance, pension and estate agency business.
The ten-storey glass structure is one of Copenhagen’s largest and coolest office buildings. The building features glass elevators, balconies, and exposed stairways, creating an open and clean-looking work environment. It also has state-of-the-art insulation systems that captures and hold heat while it is cooled with water from a nearby harbour not to mention the options to open specific areas of the roof and double layered facade to allow natural ventilation.
But it’s the meeting rooms that make this office stand-out. Nykredit’s office has meeting rooms that hang 50ft above ground which give a new meaning to “high-fly business meetings”.
There are two of these “high-fly” meeting rooms made out of dark polished wood hanging inside Nykredit’s office building. Their office cleaning company must have really though cleaners that are not afraid of heights to clean those hanging boxes.
Images from this article where sourced from a Daily Mail Article
Office Cleaning in London is on the Rise (Once Again)
January 13, 2012 Posted by Administrator in : Office Cleaning , 1 comment so farDespite the current economic slowdown office cleaning in London is on the rise once again thanks to an array of major construction projects going on around renowned areas of the capital.
Back in July we reported that the demand for Grade A offices in the metropolis would boost office cleaning in London. This is starting to happen as more and more overseas companies seek for an office space in renowned regions such as the City of London and Canary Wharf, as well as high-end places such as Westminster.
According to Ian Smith London Chamber of Commerce and Industry spokesman there are other emerging areas and projects that London office cleaning companies should keep an eye on, he remarked:
“You’ve got the Olympic site and the surrounding area and there’s hopefully the Northern line extension,”
Another area London office cleaners should keep a close eye on is on the construction of the Bath House complex that is being built on Holborn Viaduct in the centre of the city. The £65 million project will have a myriad of luxury offices, leisure areas, a retail zone as well as a car park.
But it is not only on the high end that office cleaning is on the rise in London. According to Mr Smith, more and more businesses are moving into buildings in cheaper parts of the city such as Croydon and Enfield.
One way or the other this is all good news for London office cleaning companies.
World’s Coolest Offices
December 16, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Office Cleaning , 2 commentsMany people complain about working in offices but I doubt that employees from following companies have anything to say about theirs. The offices listed bellow are a dream come true even for office cleaners.
Red Bull UK Headquarters in London
Forget stairs and lifts to move from one floor to another, Red Bull’s UK HQs in London has slides, another innovative creation by interior design company Jump Studio. The place also has a bar, cafe and a roof top terrace.
Facebook Studio O+A California
The social media giant also has one of the coolest offices in the world, located in Palo Alto in sunny California. The place was designed according to poll results conducted amongst employees.
Besides the sleek furniture and funky décor the place as a unique sound system with a complete DJ booth to cause envy in many clubs around the globe. Believe it or not the place has its own Facebok Page.
Good Technology HQ in London
Good Technology headquarters in London is an award-winning office designed by interior whizzes Spacelab. The place was designed mixture of old-fashioned gentleman’s club luxury and modern practical workspace, all that to bring the best out of their staff.
Good’s office is so cool that employees end up staying after hours to socialise round the office pool table.
Comvert Office in Milan, Italy
In my opinion one of the coolest offices I have ever seen simply because it was a skateboarding bowl over it. Comvert is an Italian based manufacturer of snowboards, clothing and accessories developed by skateboarders and snowboarders for all the young people out there.
Their new office was built inside an old movie theatre large enough to hold the admin area, a store, products depot and over it a state-of-the-art wooden skateboarding bowl.
TBWA/Chiat/Day LA Office
Gargoyles, cafe with a balcony made with old surf boards, a basketball court and a small garden make the TBWA/Chiat/Day office in LA one of the most trendy and inspirational places to work.
With more than 274 offices in 100 countries TBWA is amongst the top ten advertising agencies and its employees must be on top of their game at all times, reason why the LA is so inspirational.
Nike’s UK headquarters
Another Jump Studios creation Nike’s headquarters in the UK has a sleek, clean and modern design. The walls are packed with match balls and every where you look there is a high def telly showing the latest games, a dream come true for sports-fans.
Bahnhof Office in Stockholm, Sweden
Located 30 metres below the surface the Bahnhof office and data centre in Stockholm, Sweden looks more like Dr Evil’s hideout place. The place used to be an old nuclear bunker and now is one of the most unique workplaces in the world.
Greenhouses, artificial waterfalls, German submarine engines used for backup power, simulated daylight emphasize that. The place is sealed from the outside world by a 16 inches thick doors capable of withstand a hydrogen bomb explosion.
Google’s Stress Free Office in London
We have already talked about Google’s refurbished London HQs, please read Google’s Stress Free Office in London.
GooglePlex
Last but not least we have GooglePlex, the global headquarters of the search giant. To describe all the features Google provides its employees would require a whole article. Basically the place has everything an employee could ask for, free food, games room, cafes, swimming pool and a design to inspire even the less creative of all employees.
We would like to hear your opinion. Which of these offices you think is the coolest? Go to our Facebook Page and leave your votes there or simply use the comments bellow.
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.
Office Cleaning Tips: Workstations
October 25, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Cleaning Tips, Office Cleaning , add a commentKeeping an office clean and tidy is essential to any company whether it receives costumers at their premises or not. Many hire the services of office cleaning companies to the dirty work while others prefer to do it internally. Either way employees education is vital to keep offices sparkling clean at all times.
In this series of articles we’ll be providing creative office cleaning tips for and your employees to maintain the workplace tidy and clean without much hassle.
The best place to start introducing tidiness and cleanness measures is at individual level with employee’s workstations, cubicles and desks. Every employee should be responsible for its work space; he or she must keep it uncluttered and speckless most of the time.
Do not allow employees to eat at their desks and incite them to clean their hands every time they return from a meal or a snack specially if they went out to eat. A recent study revealed that offices that allow employees to eat at their desks tend to turn their keyboards into bacteria’s hives responsible to transmit could and flu, especially at this time of year with the cold season approaching.
If you hire the services of an office cleaning company make sure their office cleaners disinfect keyboards and phones every time they come to your office and also sure they use appropriate cleaning products. Electrical equipment can not be cleaned with any polish or cleaning product. Use the wrong products and you will end up damaging them.
Promote random audits to make sure employees are keeping their workstations organised and penalise those who don’t. By implementing these audits and penalties you will force your employees to maintain their work place tidy most of the time.
Be careful with what you can’t see!
Make sure you inspect the drawers you will be surprised with stuff you will find in some of your employees’ workstation drawers. That said, what was the most unusual thing you found on an employees’ drawer? Share your findings in our comments.
Do not allow them to store food in them and make sure they keep them tidy and clean as well.
Provide files and folders so employees can store their paper work and avoid paper clutter on their desks.
That is it for now but stay tuned for more office cleaning tips here at Total Clean Office Cleaning London!
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.
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.
Determining the effectiveness of your office cleaning company
June 13, 2011 Posted by Administrator in : Office Cleaning , 1 comment so farOffice cleaning services is a type of service that requires constant evaluation. The effectiveness of an office cleaning company is determined not only by the quality of the service provided but by a series of side-factors including reliability, trustworthiness and a few others.
To determine how effective your office cleaning company is we have compiled a list of questions you should ask yourself and your current cleaning company:
1. Are you happy with the current services provided?
2. Are they doing a thorough job?
3. Do they respond to problems quickly?
4. Is your office inspected regularly by one of their supervisors?
5. Are they adequately equipped to handle emergencies (floods, fires, etc…)
6. Do they cut corners and do just enough to get by?
7. Have they ever left a job half done?
8. How important is safety to them?
9. Do they use adequate safety equipment?
10. Are the employees properly trained to work with the chemicals they handle?
11. Are they responsive to areas where they could improve their service?
12. How quickly do they respond to complaints?
13. Did they provide a health and safety assessment prior to starting work in your premises?
14. Are they open for suggestions? In the end it is your office and you should know what is best for it.
Office cleaning is one of the most challenging types of cleaning there is due to the wide range of building styles and internal set-ups. That is why you need an office cleaning company with is fully customisable to suit your business.
Total Clean offers office cleaning services with over 15 years experience to provide individual, bespoke benefits to a wide rangw customer base. If you are looking for reliable, competitively priced office cleaning in central London, London’s West End and surrounding areas, contact Total Clean for a no obligation quote.
