A room with a view

With over 50 years’ experience of delivering services nationally, TC Specialist Services – part of TC Facilities Management – are proud to be associated with some of the UK’s biggest names in the High Street. As part of a TC Specialist Services contract with Premier Inn, the company is required to complete the cleaning of external windows. This recently included their two Sheffield City Centre locations; St Mary’s Gate & Angel Street. 

Voted "Hotel Chain of the Year" at The British Travel Awards 2014, Premier Inn with 700 sites know the importance of creating an excellent customer experience by providing the right first impression from the moment customers cast their eyes on their hotels. 

The challenge

Creating the right first impression, as well as providing guests with a spotless view of the city from their hotel room, is uppermost in Premier Inn’s mind. However, the build-up of dirt and grime from the busy traffic was preventing Premier Inn from providing the type of customer experience they are passionate about. In addition to this, consideration needed to be given to creating as little disruption as possible to other businesses in the locality.

The approach

To provide both sites with a superb first impression along with a spotless finish on guests' windows, two specialist service teams adopting different approaches at each site were mobilised. The first team, working at the St Mary's Gate Hotel, used a 55 metre truck mounted platform to access all the external windows of the 13 storey site as the 'Reach and Wash' system was not suitable.   

The second team, at the Angel Street location required a different approach due to the building having a series of anti-bird spikes. This prevented the use of a 'Reach and Wash' system as well as the busy road and tram tracks preventing the use of a platform. Consequently, window cleaning was achieved by a team entering each room and then cleaning each window by spinning the windows. To limit disruption to hotel guests and the public, the work took place on a Sunday when there were fewer hotel guests and the surrounding transport network was quieter.

 

The execution 

Conditions for completing both jobs were fantastic with the sunshine and low wind speeds. The highly trained and experienced teams started on the St Mary's Gate location with the platform taking them up on full reach to the 13th floor. Once up there, great panoramic views of Sheffield could be surveyed before swiftly moving on to clean the windows of the build-up of dirt from the busy traffic from the ring road below. The team worked their way down to ground floor level a total of eight times to complete each section of windows. 

At the same time the second team made a start on Angel Street and four and a half hours later both teams had finished at each site. This combination has delivered a superb result, providing both the right first impression, as well as enabling guests to get a spotless view of the city.