FEATURE
NEW CHIEF IN TOWN
At the British Cleaning Council AGM last month, former Chairman Doug Cooke stepped down after three years in the role, handing the reins over to Simon Hollingbery, Chairman of the ABCD and Doug’s former Deputy. We caught up with the new Chairman to see what he has planned for his tenure.
Tomorrow’s Cleaning (TC): Firstly, congratulations on becoming the new Chairman of the British Cleaning Council (BCC). Could you fill us in a little bit on your background in the industry, and how you got involved with the council?
Simon Hollingbery (SH): I’ve worked for local authorities since 1974 in various guises, and I took over as Building Cleaning Services Manager in Reading in 1992. At that time, the ABCD has been in existence since 1989, and I joined as a very junior member down in the south branch and then worked my way through. I became Chairman of the ABCD and on the death of David Froggett – who was our then Director of the British Cleaning Council – I took over the directorship and sat on the Finance and Purposes Committee and also the main board since then.
When the BCC was having a problem recruiting a Chairman from the members associations, Doug Cooke took it over and became chairman, and I said just to help out, I would then become the Deputy but didn’t want to proceed to chairman. Then with a change of management here at Reading, I approached my Head of Services and asked if it would be something the council would entertain and I’m happy to say that they said they would support me in doing it. So I then said to Doug after he’d done his third year that when the election came up – because I knew he wanted to retire – that I would do a term of two years, which I started on July 8th. And I’m happy to announce that Stan Atkins, who is the CEO of BICSc, is my Deputy.
26 | Tomorrow’s Cleaning August 2015
TC: Have you been able to crack on and get much accomplished in your first three weeks in office?
SH: No not really. It is a quiet time of year for us at the moment – although we’ve got one or two things bubbling along. I’m happy to tell you that we’ve managed to do two things since I’ve had influence, being the Deputy and coming up to chair elect, we recruited two new members to the council: the Domestic Cleaning Alliance, which is quite an interesting one. It’s a big part of the industry that just seems to be allowed to get on with itself. The Director, Stephen Munton approached the BCC for some help and support in setting up an association, so we created an associate membership, so that we can give the DCA guidance, and I have agreed to act as a mentor to him along with other members of the BCC to help get the association set up. We also accepted the British Pest Control Association into the British Cleaning Council at the last council meeting.
TC: So what are you hoping to achieve during your time as Chairman?
SH: What I’m looking to do with the BCC is I’m looking to pull the cleaning industry together – and I know that it’s probably easier pushing water uphill knowing how diverse the industry can be and how everybody goes in their own directions. But what we’re trying to do is increase the size of the BCC to actually appeal to more sectors of the cleaning industry, because it’s this huge, great, diverse industry, so that’s what I want to try and achieve, and if we end up with even 5 or 6 new members of the BCC by the time I come to the end of my term then I will consider that to have been a success.
We will carry on improving how the
BCC works and how it supports its members, and that’s the most
important thing. That’s what we’re there for.
I’ve been helping and supporting members for many a long time, but I want to get round and see as many members of the board as I can and see them at their own meetings too. But also, the British Cleaning Council has taken over the UK membership of
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