New communal cleaning contractors appointed
We’ve appointed two new contractors to carry out our communal cleaning contract.
These contracts cover our legacy Longhurst Group areas of operation and come into effect from 1 April 2025.
Our new contractors are:
Pinnacle Group – covering our East and West regions
Atlas FM – covering our South region
Customers have been involved throughout the procurement process, helping to write a question all prospective contractors had to answer and scoring the responses.
Fallon Warren, Head of Environment and Sustainability, said: “We’ve worked hard to ensure that the new communal cleaning service meets the needs of our customers and is delivered to the standards they, and we, expect.
“We recently sent all affected customers a customer-friendly version of the contract specification, so they’ll know what service to expect from our new contractors.
“We’re really pleased to have appointed Pinnacle Group and Atlas FM as our new communal cleaning contractors and believe they’ll deliver the service our customers deserve.
“We wanted to make sure the customer voice was heard as part of the procurement process, so I’d like to thank those customers who were involved and helped us in the selection of our new contractors.
“I’d also like to thank all the colleagues who’ve worked really hard to get us to this point.”
The contracts will initially run for three years, with the option to extend them for a further two years.
This is the question that was written by customers. It was included in the tender for service providers to respond to and will be scored by customers:
Please provide a comprehensive statement addressing the following points:
Quality assurance: How will you ensure that we receive the highest standard of cleaning possible? Please outline your quality control measures and any protocols you have in place to maintain consistent cleaning standards.
Customised specifications: How do you ensure that the cleaning specifications are tailored to each property, considering extra areas, rooms, or items that need to be cleaned? Describe your process for assessing and updating the cleaning requirements for individual properties.
Access to areas: How do you ensure that your staff can access all the areas they need to clean? Outline your approach to managing keys or entry codes necessary to perform the cleaning duties.
Equipment readiness: How do you make sure your staff have all the necessary equipment to perform the cleaning tasks to the required standard at every property?
Monitoring and compliance: How do you monitor your staff to ensure that they cover all areas included in the cleaning specification and spend an adequate amount of time on site? Explain your methods for monitoring and verifying staff performance and attendance.
Timing and communication: Explain how you will ensure consistency and routine in your cleaning visits, and how you will handle any necessary changes to the schedule. How will you calculate that cleaners have enough time?
Product safety: What steps do you take to ensure that the cleaning products you use are safe and do not cause allergic reactions among customers? Describe your process for selecting and vetting cleaning products, including any customer communication regarding product ingredients.
Staff vetting and safety: How do you conduct background checks on your staff to ensure the safety of customers? Provide details on your hiring process, including any specific checks or certifications required.
