Feature
Cleaning Strategy Needs More Attention In FM
The Building Cost Information Service (BCIS)1 forecasts that cleaning costs will
increase by 29.1% by 2031. Jo Gilliard, CEO of Jangro, explains why a more strategic approach to cleaning can help facilities managers make better use of available budgets.
Every budget review eventually reaches cleaning. As one of the largest operational services under a facilities manager’s control, it is an obvious place to start looking for savings. The latest BCIS forecast is a reminder that rising costs cannot be addressed through budget cuts. The challenge is making every part of the budget work harder by ensuring cleaning strategies reflect how buildings are actually used.
Strategy Starts With The Specification Cleaning strategies often receive the greatest attention when contracts are due for renewal, or budgets come under review. By that stage, many of the assumptions behind the cleaning service are already established.
Buildings rarely operate in the same way throughout their lifetime. A specification written five years ago may still be driving the same cleaning programme, even though the building now functions very differently. Occupancy levels change, hybrid working reshapes patterns of use and spaces are repurposed to support different activities. Areas that once required limited attention may become some of the busiest parts of a building, while others see far less use.
If specifications do not keep pace with those changes, resources can easily be directed towards areas that no longer require the same level of attention, while busier spaces receive insufficient support, leading to unnecessary expenditure and missed opportunities to use budgets more effectively.
08 fmuk
Regularly reviewing the specification helps facilities managers ensure that cleaning frequencies and resource allocation reflect how the building is used. Often, relatively small refinements are enough to improve efficiency, reduce waste and maintain the standards expected by building users.
Investing In Operational Teams
Most facilities management services work quietly in the background. Cleaning is different because it is delivered throughout the building every day. That gives cleaning operatives first-hand knowledge of how spaces are used and how those patterns change over time.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
