Our Services
Our Services
As a privately owned independent business we put our clients first, aiming always to deliver what we promise and never to promise more than we can deliver. We are known for doing what we say.
Contract Cleaning
What’s so complicated about cleaning? That may be the sentiment expressed by people used to domestic cleaning but contract cleaning for offices and other commercial premises is much less straightforward. Every business is different so every cleaning contract is customised to the client’s needs.
The client might require one cleaner or a large team; an on-site janitorial team or occasional or regular cover for an in-house team during absences. Tasks might be routine and frequent or unusual one-offs – from daily cleaning to infrequent deep cleans to rapid response teams in emergencies. The specifics – products, methods, frequency, scope, time of day, hours, equipment, the premises, layout – will, of course, vary. We will recommend a contract cleaning service that works best for your business and premises – and we will do what we say.
Five key points define our contract cleaning service:
- Reliable and involved: With a strong team of experienced area managers (usually allocated to clients by geographical region) we are able to respond very fast to changes to the client’s contract cleaning routine, unexpected absences in the cleaning team, or emergencies. Area managers work closely with clients, meeting them regularly to discuss performance and share auditing information; they are available to clients every day. Our largest and most complex client contracts will often also have supervisors, allocated to specific sites and present on site with our team, troubleshooting and problem-solving throughout.
- Innovative and effective: It isn’t only that we look at every potential cleaning contract with a fresh approach to improve quality and value for money. We also continually watch developments in equipment performance and look for better ways of working, knowing that modern cleaning equipment is more efficient and new cleaning products more effective or less impactful on the environment. A generous annual budget for new equipment underpins our determination to deliver a higher level of performance at our clients’ premises. We train our staff to use equipment safely and effectively.
- Reviewed and improved: Our operations team – managers and supervisors – meets fortnightly to discuss common issues, share experiences and offer suggestions for improvements so we can achieve the same high standard of service for all our contract cleaning clients.
- Expansive and forward-looking: We look beyond the specifics of each cleaning contract, assessing opportunities to improve efficiency on the job and at our head office. We employ well-informed specialists for common sense advice not only on what applies now but also on what might happen next – such as on our impact on the environment, on health and safety where our people work and on how best to recruit people who share our determination to deliver a high quality contract cleaning service.
- We do what we say: Promising more than we deliver is the fast route to losing contracts. We want to retain clients for the long term, because they know they can rely on us to perform well and provide the additional services they need from time to time. In an industry renowned for its high turnover of staff, we are known for having staff who are unusually loyal and long-serving. We put this down to being open, clear and honest with clients and staff – promising no more than we can deliver and, therefore, for doing what we say.
Deep Cleaning
Lakethorne’s leadership team remain totally focused in providing a safe and hygienically secure working environment for our customers. As an organisation we have organically evolved over the past 25 years staying ahead of industry cleaning developments creating new ideas and effective ways of working specifically linked to the needs of our customer base.
COVID 19 has challenged us to take this a step further by forming alliances with chemical and equipment manufactures to help in the design of the next level of bacteria fighting material and innovational cleaning equipment.
This partnership has allowed us to develop an enhanced COVID 19 fighting operating model which provides a cost effect way of supporting our existing cleaning arrangements.
Our deep cleaning service is bespoke to each of our clients, this is due to size and complexities of buildings. One thing that does stay the same is our attention to detail, for example A typical deep clean of an area will include:
- Ceilings (where applicable, if the surface is washable)
- Light fixtures and fittings
- Walls (where applicable, if the surface is washable) – pictures and notice boards will be taken down and re-hung
- Fixed shelving (inside and outside)
- Fixed cupboards (inside and outside)
- Ledges, skirtings and sills
- Doors
- Windows and window frames (inside only)
- Carpets cleaned or floors stripped and polished, as applicable
- Free standing furniture cleaned
- Dispensers (unless glued to the wall) will be removed, washed inside and out, and replaced
- Radiator covers (where fitted) will be removed, cleaned and refitted.
- Fans
- Ventilation grilles
In addition to our deep cleans ( or periodics ) we also offer a contamination control clean. Our revised cleaning model offers two additional stages to our standard cleaning service. Detailed below are the three stages to protecting your working environment, staff, visitors and building users.
Stage One – Maintain an effective cleaning solution
As a Lakethorne customer you can expect that staff working on your premises are using professional grade cleaning chemical and equipment and are following a detailed cleaning specification.
Due to the current lockdown procedures we are providing varying levels of cover to existing customers which have included more staff for businesses who remain open and reductions in some areas for customers who have been forced to close temporally.
No matter how the pandemic has effected your business we remain committed to deploying staff who are well trained, motivated and work to an agreed and structured shift pattern, supported by our team of dedicated area managers.
Stage Two – Effective testing & monitoring
During these uncertain times we believe it important to evidence to our customers that your cleaning service is measured and evidenced as effective and fit for purpose. To achieve this will can provide regular ATP swab testing to offer rapid validation of your cleaning regime.
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an enzyme that is present in all living cells, and an ATP monitoring system can detect the amount of organic matter that remains after cleaning.
These tests will be managed by our compliance team and can be conducted during a joint inspection process allowing for results to be shared with your building management and stakeholders within 60 seconds of the test.
Stage Three – ULV fogging providing a protective barrier
The final stage of our revised offer allows for a complete sanitisation of your premises using Ultra Low Volume fogging. ULV Fogging is used to disinfect many types of environments and is very common in the medical sector where exceptional hygiene standards are a prerequisite.
ULV works by generating a fog or mist formed by Ultra Low Volume droplets between 5 – 50 Microns in Diameter. Our medical grade chemical is projected into the atmosphere where it disperses onto all vertical and horizontal surfaces killing the following known viruses: Ebola, Coronavirus, Hepatitis, Rabies Virus, Influenza Virus and many more.
Support Services
Contract cleaning and security guarding are core services but many clients need additional support, as part of their regular schedule or as occasional extras.
Our range of facilities management support services is always expanding because clients ask for them, to simplify the management of contractors and to save time and a lot of hassle. For some tasks, we work through tried, tested and trusted contractors; others are carried out by us; we will let you know exactly who will be doing the work.
If what you need isn’t listed here, ask us anyway … we are usually able to help
- Carpet and rug cleaning: Emergency cleans after spills and regular cleans to keep your carpets in good condition and looking good
- Consumables: Because we’re a large and well-established business we’ve strong relationships with suppliers, meaning we can offer you competitive prices for consumables, whatever quality you use.
- Deep Cleans: A deep clean is a keep clean- it sets the highest standards to be maintained. Our deep clean team works in all settings, from warehouses to hospitals
- Feminine hygiene: We offer a full feminine hygiene service through our partnership service with a leading supplier of washroom services. Organising it through us means you have fewer suppliers to manage
- Hard floor cleaning: Indoors ( laminate, linoleum, marble, stone, tiles, vinyl, wood0 and outdoors ( block paving and decking)- we clean them all
- Window cleaning: We can include regular window cleaning inside and out, in your contract or provide it when needed
Business Waste
Great waste management solutions increase company profits, create positive PR and help save the planet. Let us help you recognise the value in the materials you throw away and design for you a convenient and timely waste management solution reducing both your environmental impact and the cost of disposing of your waste.
Waste is unavoidable, but it should not become a distraction from your core business. Let us clean up behind you as you blaze your trail. We’re experts, and it’s our business to front-run waste resource management strategies and execute those plans.
Our experience working with clients facing challenges like yours mean we are able to recognise savings and improvements fast. Plus, because we deal with a lot of waste, we enjoy economies of scale which you benefit from in lower prices.
That’s not all, the biggest headache in waste management is the frequent changes to the law governing waste collection, disposal and recycling issues. Use our management service and we’ll keep ahead of these changes on your behalf.
Our waste management services include full site audits by qualified consultants with substantial industry experience. We aim to have a close working partnership with you on waste issues helping you to monitor and implement waste management policies to reduce waste at source.
We offer regular collections of all types of waste including hazardous and clinical and provide advice and updates on current regulations and legislation.
Hard Floor Cleaning
Cleaning, restoration and maintenance of marble, limestone, terrazzo, wood, vinyl, and linoleum floors. It’s easy to make a floor shine for a day, but day after week after month requires a whole different level of competence. Our specialist hard floor cleaning division does nothing but polish marble, coat wood and restore hard floors to a factory-fresh appearance.
Cleaning:
We usually find the most significant factor in the condition of floors we are asked to assess is this: The more daily cleaning the dirtier the floor! Seriously, there is no doubt the use of inappropriate cleaning chemicals and the lack of basic insight into how to make floors clean and bright is the biggest obstacle to clean, bright, sanitary floors.
Restoration:
If your floor has been laid for some time it may be showing signs of wear and tear. Sometimes floors that have been neglected or just poorly maintained need to have the stone surface itself honed or ground back.
Honing will also remedy the effects of old-fashioned vitrification (sometimes called crystallisation or recrystallization). Using today’s modern technologies, vitrification is no longer necessary or recommended by competent contractors.
Honing can also be used to remove lippage problems where the edges of stones have raised or lowered relative to their neighbours. Honing provides a smooth, trip-free surface leaving the floor with a matt finish.
A super-gloss polished finish can be achieved using modern diamond polishing technologies.
Refurbishment:
For a fabulous looking floor that keeps its shine year-round our refurbishment service is industry-leading.
We refurbish your floor by first stripping away any existing coatings and deep cleaning with specialist machinery and chemistry. Next, we neutralise the surface to make it chemically as well as visibly clean. It is essential the floor is chemically clean because only then can the sealant and protector bond to the stone surface.
The inner architecture of the stone is flooded with the sealant and protector filling the nooks and crannies so no other liquids – spills and soiling – can’t do so. The look and the feel of the stone remain natural and no one will be able to tell your floor has had a protector applied.
If you choose – and the stone is suitable – you can go one step further and have a polished effect applied. Doing this is not only aesthetically pleasing it also helps to protect the stone from abrasion, scratches, soiling and spills.
Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning
With over 35 years of specialised carpet cleaning services Lakethorne can clean, revitalise and sanitise your carpets, rugs and soft furnishings. Using a fast, effective, low-moisture cleaning system your carpets will look good as new and ready for action with minimal disruption and inconvenience.
There are many ways to clean a carpet. But no one best way. It all depends on the type of carpet and the level and nature of the soiling.
In a nutshell, the less water and chemistry involved the better the outcome in terms of speed of drying and mitigation of risk. Today’s modern technologies allow us to clean carpets very effectively and yet have them dry and returned to service within 30 minutes.
Even where carpets are heavily soiled the latest methodologies call for a multi-process cleaning approach with an emphasis on mechanical action, time and temperature rather than high volumes of water. Don’t take our word for it though. Call and ask for a free demonstration clean of your worse offending carpet – seeing is believing.