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TfL awards ‘greener’ cleaning contract for coach and bus stations
Transport for London (TfL) has awarded its cleaning contract for Victoria Coach Station and dozens of bus stations and bus stands to ISS Facility Services in an agreement that will deliver high levels of cleanliness and hygiene as well as deliver environmental benefits for the capital.
ISS Facility Services has been contracted to clean Victoria Coach Station, 44 bus stations and 64 bus stands across the capital. A key element of the contract is that ISS carry out the cleaning with minimal impact on the environment. This includes the use of the first fleet of six electric Renault Kangoo vans in the UK. The zero emission vans will be charged using Source London, the capital’s largest publicly accessible electric vehicle charging network. This will save 5.3 tonnes of CO2 over four years as well as help reduce pollution to improve air quality. An additional 30 diesel vehicles used on the contract will have to meet the latest Euro emission standards as well as achieving low CO2 emissions.
ISS is responsible for cleaning passenger and staff areas including seating and toilets, glazing, road sweeping, clearing oil spillages and maintaining vegetation around the bus stations and bus stands. ISS will be using a range of innovative greener products that meet the stringent environmental requirements of the European Eco-label and operating equipment with the lowest environmental impact whilst achieving high standards of hygiene and cleanliness.
The green elements of the contract are part of TfL’s commitment to operate to high environmental standards to the benefit of Londoners and to ensure that its suppliers do the same. The four year cleaning contract will also see ISS using cleaning techniques that will create less air pollution and noise emissions as well as reducing energy and water consumption.
Mike Weston, operations director for Surface Transport, said: “TfL is committed to deliver high levels of cleanliness and along with that, this new contract is set to help our wider efforts to improve air quality and cut carbon emissions. Having already taken significant steps to green our own support fleet, we are encouraging all our suppliers to achieve the same challenging standards combining sustainability with value for money to reduce the environmental impacts of operations as much as possible. This new cleaning contract with ISS is a fantastic example.”
Brian Raven, managing director of ISS Facility Services Transport, said: “Transport for London set a real challenge with its environmental and budgetary targets. But it shows what can be achieved when both parties want to partner to reach shared goals. A great example is the support TfL has offered us with mapping the Source London charging network. In return, we have used our deep knowledge of cleaning to make sure that this contact meets the high standards of cleanliness that bus passengers and workers deserve. We are genuinely excited about all the new processes, products and technologies that we are introducing and will share the results with TfL to optimise systems going forwards.”
TfL has worked hard to ensure it operates one of the greenest support fleets and over the last few years has set tough CO2 limits for all new vehicles entering the fleet. It also has a fleet of electric and other low carbon vehicles as well as providing eco-driver training to staff.
Frying tonight
The age-old art to frying traditional fish and chips remains in high demand regardless of all other take-away foods. ‘Chippies’ that are taking the extra effort to perfect the art of frying are enjoying high sales.
According to Paul Williams, managing director of the UK’s School of Frying Excellence, these professional, award winning fryers are as fanatical about the cleanliness, safety and hygiene of their premises as they are about the quality of the meals they cook. He said: “The first day of our course is spent on health and safety, the Food Hygiene Certificate Level 2 in Food Safety, HACCP and tips to maintain top levels of hygiene. Students are from all over the UK so we have teamed up with Jangro, the largest nationwide network of janitorial supply companies, to introduce our pupils to the very best in health, safety and hygiene products.”
Hygiene Cleaning Supplies of Morecambe, a Jangro member company, has installed an extensive catering hygiene display of tester products, so students can try the latest cleaning innovations. The course includes training from the Jangro catering cleaning schedule and wall poster.
www.jangro.net
BCC praises Olympic Park clean up
The Environment Agency has announced that clean up work for the Olympic site in Stratford, east London has now been completed. London’s largest new urban park in 100 years has been created, with 300,000 wetland plants and 2000 native trees planted and five miles of the river Lea restored. The park also has environmentally friendly facilities such as a waste water recycling plant, an energy centre producing low-carbon energy, and over 22 miles of cycleways and footpaths.
Mark Woodhead, chairman of the British Cleaning Council, said: "Transforming such a vast and contaminated industrial landscape into one of the largest new urban parks in Europe is a huge achievement. The Olympic Park project has shown that large-scale environmental projects can be combined with infrastructure regeneration and development, to create clean and safe public spaces which can be enjoyed by all."
www.britishcleaningcouncil.org
McGregor-Smith to address ThinkFM delegates
Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE, chief executive of MITIE Group, will address delegates at ThinkFM in June. McGregor-Smith, honoured for her services to business and diversity in business in the 2012 New Year Honours List, will speak at the conference on a range of issues, including diversity in the workplace, sustainability, apprenticeships in the UK, entrepreneurialism, and work-life balance.
McGregor-Smith joined MITIE in 2002 and was appointed as CEO in 2007. She is one of a small number of women holding the position of chief executive in the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 and is the first Asian woman to be appointed in such a role within that group of companies. Since joining MITIE, she has overseen growth in revenues from £0.5 billion to £1.9 billion and has also embedded her strong belief that responsible business practice is fundamental to business success.
BIFM chairman, Ian Broadbent, said: "I'm delighted Ruby McGregor-Smith will be speaking at our conference. Ruby's interest in training and commitment to diversity, as well as her obvious entrepreneurial abilities, make her an ideal person to inspire our delegates during these challenging times."
ThinkFM will take place on 18 June 2012 at The Royal College of Physicians in London, with the theme ‘Ideas for change: how great facilities management makes the difference’. The programme is split into hubs including: workplace - making spaces work; people - inspiring the team; and competitive advantage - driving performance
and value.
Sessions within the hubs will focus on core FM topics such as procurement, sustainability, resource efficiency, outsourcing and refurbishment, through to associated topics such as social media, cloud computing, communications, employment law, improving margins and trends in design.
Early-bird bookings, offering significant savings on the delegate fee, are available to those booking on or before 23 March 2012.
www.thinkfm.com
LPM Group restructures
Further underlining its commitment to an ambitious growth plan, LPM Group - which comprises LPM Cleaning & Support Services and guarding and security solutions provider Axis Security - has announced a major restructure as part of the organisation’s on-going strategy to strengthen and develop at national level.
Jonathan Levine, currently managing director at Axis Security, has been promoted to group chief executive officer, while Mark Saunders has been appointed as group finance director. Saunders has spent most of his recent career in senior roles with Shanks, a major player in the waste disposal sector.
LPM Cleaning & Support Services also benefits from a number of senior management changes aimed at supporting a truly national business and meeting the ever increasing needs of its customers within the retail, office, public sector, food and industrial markets. Bringing operational, sales and cleaning industry experience to the division, former commercial director, Joe Read, has been made sales and operations director, while Zoe Hewertson continues as service development director and Alistair Clayton is the new national business development director.
Prior to joining LPM Cleaning in 2010, Joe Read spent six years as operations director (retail and aviation) at Carlisle Cleaning & Support Services where he led the Tesco account. His other roles include operations director north at Broadreach and soft services consultant at WS Atkins Facilities Management. He is a Member of British Institute of Facilities Management and BICSc, as well as being an assessor for the latter, and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors.
Alistair Clayton brings with him over 15 years of wide ranging commercial experience across all facets of the cleaning industry with a particular focus on bundled service solutions, especially within the shopping centre/retail marketplace. He is also a member of the BCSC.
Zoe Hewertson’s most recent role was as head of cleaning for Carillion. She was also cleaning director at Land Securities Trillium, national cleaning director for Rentokil Initial and county cleaning manager for Derbyshire County Council. She has served as council member for BICSc and is the current vice chairman of the Asset Skills board for cleaning.
Together with finance director, Scott Dudley, they will report to Jonathan Levine whose existing Axis Security role and management reporting lines will remain unchanged. Current group finance director and acting CEO, Fred Stratford, leaves to return to a new senior role in the travel sector, where he has spent the majority of his career.
www.lpmcleaning.co.uk
South Thames College celebrates award winning partnership
South Thames College’s business partner for the cleaning and service industry has received a Medal for Excellence from City and Guilds. Impact 43, which delivers window cleaning training for the sector, has been recognised for its outstanding performance in Level 2 cleaning and support service skills.
Mary Schramm, director of employment skills at the college, said: “South Thames College is the largest and most successful provider of training to the cleaning industry in the country. We are the most well established having worked with the cleaning sector for more than 30 years. We have partnered with Impact 43 for some time and share good practise and benefit from each others expertise. Our success rates are over 95% and we are proud of the continued high standard of training that is being delivered in this area.”
Andrew Willis from Impact 43 will attend the awards ceremony on 15 March 2012 at The Roundhouse in London where he will receive the Medal for Excellence. He said: “I attended South Thames College in the 90s as a student. This training inspired me to make a commitment to training and CPD within my own organisation. I’m really pleased to have been nominated and it represents the whole team behind Impact and recognises what we do.”
In addition to this medal Willis will automatically be shortlisted for City and Guild’s Lion Awards and will also have a chance to win the People’s Choice Award, voted for by the public.
www.south-thames.ac.uk
