The training trend setters
April 1st 2004

Trendleway the family owned Manchester contract cleaning company has set a new standard that will. hopefully, be copied by many other companies because it is the latest development in on-site training In 1999 Trendleway started cleaning offices for the Co-operative Group pemises in central Manchester. Today it handles all the groups 22 buildings including the Co-op Bank and the Co-op Insurance headqurters in the North West a total of 1 097 000 sq ft of office space. Trendleway director Andrew Fahey, a BICSc board member, has negotiated on-site training facilities in one of the Co-op buildings in central Manchester. This is no normal training room, its a complete floor that has mini-cleaning scenarios wher staff can learn using real life situations that they will experience elsewhere in the Co-op buildings. The cleaning training suite includes a Gents loo with urninal, cubicles, basins and soap and towel dispensers. Theres a boardroom, training room and office set-up as well as tiled, wooden and carpeted floors. In addition there is a lift front, stairs and various types of doors that need cleaning and maintaining. The 2000 sq ft training area is equipped with the same cleaning tools and equipment that are used by the cleaning staff elsewhere in the Co-op Manchester sites. The training suite is so popular and sucessful with Trendleway staff working on Co-op buildings that the Co-op management has allowed Andrew Fahey to use the area to train cleaners for all his contracts. Andrew said: We want to give all our staff the opportunity to gain a cleaning qualification an NVQ or a BICSc Cleaning Proficiency Certificate. They are the passports for their future career development. When we took over this contractunder TUPE, we talked to all employees and theirmain concerns were job security and achieving cleaning standards. After three months we set new higher standards and gave the necessary training programme and instruction to reach them. Since then we have never looked back. The training suite was not created overnight. Co-ops suppliers of loos and hard floor surfaces, Interface the carpet manufacturer, Otis lifts and others were alkl cobtacxted for off-cuts, spare equipment and products so that we could build the room sets. Everyone supplied what was needed. This dedication and enthusiasm led the Co-op to pay for the building work and the wages for its cleaning staff while attending courses. So far we have invited Seldon Research, Prochem, Dry Fusion (UK), Victor (Dowding and Plummer) to meet and discuss the centre and to talk to the management team about the products they supply and the best prtactice in their use, says Andrew Fahey. The experts praise the programme Mike Sweeney, BICScs CEO said when visiting the training centre: This is an amazing relationship and working partnership between client and cleaning contractor. In my 37 years in the cleaning I have never seen or heard of such a excellent and professoinal relationship. Martyn Vesey, sirector general of the Cleaning and Support Services Association said: This is the template that others should work from. It illustrates total involvement, dedication, professionalism and teamwork at its best. I sincerely hope that others will follow this initiative. The Co-ops caring attitude starts with its staff and continues with caring for the environment. Through its recycling programme it saves 91 tonnes of waste paper per month equivalent to 21 197 trees each year. Cleaning is high on the agenda Cleaning is everybodys convcern because it involves him or her in maintaining standards and making recommendations for improvement. Each month there is a Building Services Forum attended by representitives from each floor. It is not a whinging session, but a constructive and effective group who make recommendations, raise standards and help make the building a world class office. This according to Co-op central services facilities manager Mark Spilling, has been a highly successful forum, well worth every minute spent. It helps identify needs, often before they arise, so that the cleaning staff can be briefed and prepared. Marks final word on cleaning was an admission of reaching mission impossible: Last year, our outstanding supplier/customer relationship with Trendleway helped greatly improve cleaning standards and simultaneously we under-spent the cleaning budget. Most people buy FM services on price and judge on quality. You must agree some middle groud, we did and it paid off.

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