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Julia Argles, who had served for many years as Swiftclean Service Delivery Director, has decided to retire from the company. She is also relinquishing any commercial interest; her shares being purchased by the company.
Gary Nicholls, Managing Director and founder of the company with Julia’s late husband, Paul, praised Julia for the contribution that she has made.
He said: “We are very grateful for the hard work and positive influence that Julia has contributed over the years, not only to the structure and development of the company, but also to best practice and raised standards across the industry. We owe much of our focus on training and development to Julia, and the industry is the better for her input too.”
Julia Argles joined Swiftclean in 1992, following the tragic death of her husband Paul; taking on his mantle as co-owner, and helping to drive the company forward, together with Gary Nicholls. She has had a significant impact both on Swiftclean’s exemplary service delivery model, and also on maximising individual staff potential.
NEBOSH qualified, Julia sat for some years on BESA’s Service and Facilities Group Executive Committee which supported the BESA Safety Focus initiative. Julia was vocal in expressing the need for more training for technicians, and helped to bring about BESA’s ventilation hygiene Trailblazer Apprenticeships, chairing the Trailblazer steering group. Julia was keen to ensure that Swiftclean was first to put all its operatives through the BESA Green Book Scheme training, the precursor to Grease and Air Hygiene Qualifications, while ensuring that all its regional supervisors were also IOSH trained.
“Quite apart from her many achievements, Julia has, above all, been a great business partner, for many years. She was influential in our introducing development programmes for every individual, and she has always been both reliable and considered in her approach,” added Gary Nicholls. “We wish her every happiness pursuing other interests and enjoying a very long active retirement.”
