Principle Cleaning Services and One New Change

One New Change is one of Landsec’s most prestigious London locations, situated next to St Paul’s Cathedral. It attracts over 12 million visitors a year – city workers and tourists in abundance, due to its high-end stores and desirable restaurants.

Since 2010, One New Change has provided 345,000 sq ft of superior office accommodation to global businesses, as well as 215,000 sq ft of premium retail space neighbouring London’s most popular and historic tourist attractions.

Spread over eight floors, it has covered and open-air aspects, a large amount of stone flooring that requires daily treatment, escalators, glass, and one of the busiest loading bays in London.

Principle Cleaning Services was awarded the contract in April 2016 for the common parts including the malls, loading bay and windows of the office space. The London-based cleaning specialist, which provides its services to some of the most famous landmark buildings in the Capital, also cleans some of the tenants’ offices but these are separate contracts.

Principle has 25 full-time employees, including two managers, three supervisors and three window cleaners at One New Change. The on-site team is led by a dedicated site manager who has worked hard to develop a ‘one team’ culture and professional image of the business, delivering the highest levels of cleaning standards and service.

There are many challenges to cleaning a building of this nature. This is a seven-day operation with an early morning ‘core clean’ from 5.00 am, supported by a dedicated and agile janitor team whose focus is on delivering an exceptional guest experience. The footfall through the site impacts the daily cleaning regime. Weather and the time of year also play a huge part in how busy One New Change can be.

When Principle began the contract, there were a number of areas that needed attention.

The management team engaged with the occupiers and retailers with the specific aim of understanding their needs. As a result, the team have created a bespoke service delivery that focuses on the appearance and maintenance of the building fabric.

The on-site cleaning team have transformed the appearance of the stone floors in the shopping malls using cleaning technology that leaves the stone as intended. The janitors have utilised the latest in NFC technology to create an innovative and smart solution to washroom maintenance. This system allows the logging of janitor attendance, recording and re-ordering of consumables and an audit solution, all in one visit.

The escalators are in constant heavy use, so Principle immediately introduced a cleaning system that can be undertaken daily by one person, which acts as the perfect solution for maintaining them.

Maintaining the loading bay with the level of traffic that passes through is a significant challenge. The waste volumes are huge and require close management. The Waste team ensure high levels of recycling are achieved by engaging with end users to make sure they understand the value and benefits of implementing the recycling programme that Principle and LandSec have developed.

External window cleaning is also challenging as there is a large out of hours requirement. Cleaning is provided by a mix of site-based reach and wash, cradle and cherry picker systems. Ground pole and reach and wash is provided to all areas to six metres of the perimeter of the building.

A cherry picker is used for the perimeter canopies plus the diamond balustrading next to the retail units and a house cradle is used for the external perimeter. There are two house cradles and this work is provided by a full-time dedicated site team, whilst voids and atria are cleaned at night by a visiting team of specialists to avoid any disruption to the retailers.

Principle has delivered a bespoke knowledge centre that is accessible from anywhere with an internet or WiFi connection. The knowledge centre hosts everything from compliance documents, audits scores, PPM schedules to washroom attendance details.

The company prides itself on its exceptional cleaning standards and provides daily cleaning and building audits, which are recorded online via its dedicated client portal. All of Principle’s cleaning teams are trained in accordance with BICSc CPSS, with specific task training tailored towards the fabric and use of the building.

Principle’s site manager meets daily with Landsec’s operations manager to discuss upcoming events and ensure plans and processes are in place to provide a great customer experience.

One New Change has embraced the cloud-based technology that Principle uses as its primary operating platform, which incorporates a number of apps that allow everyone to communicate clearly in ‘real time’ with a documented audit trail and sign off process.

Principle’s cleaning methodology was devised incorporating practical solutions alongside a culture of collaborative team working, customer focus, reliable service and professional image.