System: Specialist Access

K-Rend render cleaning in Portishead

At OneFifty we’ve worked with Jones Building Group on a number of cleaning projects, building a strong working relationship with them over the years.

So, when Jones Building Group needed a reliable exterior building cleaning company to clean the building’s K-rend render, wooden cladding and glass before beginning planned maintenance work, they contacted us.

A streaky situation

The block of flats on Kittiwake Drive in Portishead had become badly marked by algae, moss, lichen and organic growth, causing unsightly streaks, especially on the walls under residents’ balconies.

Large areas of the building had become marked black with algae, making the building’s exterior look unsightly and uncared for. Residents’ balconies had also become affected by organic growth, making the surface slippery and unsafe.

Looking after the residents

Before we started work, the residents were contacted asking them to move any plants and furniture on their balconies out of the way, so nothing was damaged during cleaning. Once we’d safely cleared any remaining items to ensure nothing got broken or damaged the team got to work.

Exterior building cleaning

At the rear of the building we used an all-terrain tracked spider boom to reach the top of the block of flats from the lawned area behind the building, preventing damage to the turf while giving us safe access to clean the top of the building. At the front of the flats we used a boom lift to reach the 16-meter cleaning heights.

As part of our cleaning process we treated the exterior building surfaces with a biocide to make sure all organic growth was effectively removed. This also helps to protect the building’s surface by inhibiting regrowth, so the render stays cleaner for longer. In some areas the team applied several coatings of the biocide to make sure all of the algae was properly removed.

Once all the organic growth had been removed we gave the entire building a final steam clean to ensure a pristine finish.

A proper job

We completed our initial building clean in plenty of time, meaning Jones Building Group could start their maintenance works as planned and stay on schedule for the project.

Once Jones Building Group had finishing their work to the building’s cladding we came back to give the building a final clean, focusing on the glass balcony screens and windows, so the residents had a spotless view of their brilliantly cleaned and maintained building.

Mark Sheffield, Contracts Manager at Jones Building Group says of working with us at Kittiwake Drive:

“We’ve used OneFifty for several years, they’re our go-to supplier for exterior building cleaning. The project at Kittiwake Drive was fairly straightforward and as always OneFifty got the job done with no fuss. They’re very reliable and like Ronseal their exterior building cleaning service does what it says on the tin.”

Major project carried out with minimum fuss

OneFifty was contracted to carry out the external cleaning of a sizeable office building situated in Bristol’s busy business quarter Temple Quay.

The exterior surfaces included metal clad pillars, stone lintels, 6 separate corrugated roof areas and an outdoor top-floor terrace. We also cleaned the external pathways, entrance ramps, front steps and a large domed area of block paving outside the front entrance of the building.

We love a challenge!

This was a sizeable project; the building is six storeys high with a foot print of around 2,500 square metres. The location, height and structure of the building all presented different challenges – aside from a pretty tight deadline!

We used tracked and truck-mounted cherry pickers to achieve the required height and a vertical out-reach of up to 32 metres, then rope access to get up close to some of the harder to reach surfaces of the building façade. This combination allowed our operators to reach and clean every last inch of the building exterior, achieving fantastic results for our client. They also worked flat out over 14 consecutive days to complete the task within the required time frame.

Meeting all Health and Safety requirements

Health and safety is always critical in our line of work and it was of paramount importance on this project.

Temple Quay is a busy area and the building is surrounded by pedestrian walkways. Being experienced in working in public spaces our team can minimise any inconvenience to passers-by and our flexible working hours mean we can work out of hours to help reduce disruption.

OneFifty’s experienced operators are IPAF and IRATA trained and we follow tried and tested procedures that support safe working. We also have all the necessary insurances in place – so that our clients can have complete peace of mind.

Reduce damage caused by dirt and algae  

Cleaning the building exterior not only makes the building look great, it also helps preserve the materials and the structure of the building, warding off costly repairs. Cladding can fail if not properly maintained, so regular cleaning is important. On this building some of the metal cladding had begun to oxidise so we used a special cleaning agent to remove the oxidation, then applied a wax covering to protect the surface and improve its appearance.

Being in the city centre (and near a train station) many of the external surfaces of the building had become badly stained by environmental pollution, others had been colonised by algae. We used pressurised steam at 150 degrees to remove these pollutants quickly and effectively. We also treated relevant surfaces with an algae inhibitor to discourage regrowth. While we had the access equipment in place we also arranged for the windows to be cleaned so that the whole building was left looking clean and shining like new.

For more information about exterior surface cleaning contact Max or Andy Morris on 0333 234 1445 or email your enquiry and we will get back to you as quickly as possible. 

 

Algae removal – San Lorenzo Court, Cornwall

San Lorenzo Court is a contemporary development of one and two bedroom retirement apartments located in St. Ives overlooking Carbis Bay. The attractive, modern building exterior features a combination of natural grey Cornish slate, local stone and a K Rend render. The render – usually the colour of Cornish clotted cream – had become stained with unsightly black algae. This is a hazard of being near to the sea as the algae thrives in a damp atmosphere and, as is to be expected, the walls to the rear of the building and any recessed areas that do not get much direct sun were particularly affected.

Our tried and tested three-step process gets the best results

Algae can be challenging to remove but we know that our tried and tested three-step process will get the best possible results.

1. First we clean the surface using steam cleaning; pressurised steam heated to 150 degrees delivers powerful cleaning whilst still being really gentle on the render surface.

2. Next we apply a gentle chemical agent that we have specifically developed to tackle algae staining, this ensures that the final pass with steam cleaningwill completely remove all trace of the algae taking the render back to its original soft cream colour.

3. Finally, since algae is persistent, we apply a growth inhibitor to deter future growth and keep the building exterior looking clean and fresh for as long as possible.

Careful attention to detail ensures successful outcome

San Lorenzo Court is surrounded by pretty landscaped areas with mature shrubs, flowers and lawns. We have plenty of experience of cleaning residential properties and know how important it is to avoid damaging plants by taking extra care when installing access equipment.

Clear communications with residents

Many of the apartments have spacious balconies with smoked glass panelling so it was important to make sure residents were fully aware of exactly when the cleaning would be taking place, and that they remove any outdoor furniture or other items from their balconies until the cleaning work had been completed. Clear communications with the residents, followed up by careful checking in advance of carrying out the cleaning, helped ensure that nothing was damaged. We also made sure that our team cleaned the glass panels leaving them gleaming.

San Lorenzo Court looks wonderful now that we have completed the cleaning and the residents are delighted with the outcome. The before and after images below show what a difference our cleaning has made.

If you would like to know more about render cleaning or removing algae from your building exterior contact Max or Andy Morris on 0333 234 1445 or email and we will get back to you.

 

Tried and tested nationwide cleaning

Over 2018 we have been carrying out regular exterior cleaning for Big Yellow Self Storage. The company has massive yellow storage units located in most major cities throughout the UK. This has allowed us to stress-test our nationwide service and ensure that we are hitting the mark in terms of quality of cleaning, timeliness of delivery and customer service.

From Gateshead in the North to Poole in the South

We’ve now completed more than 25 Big Yellow Self Storage units in Bristol, Cardiff, Colchester, Edinburgh, Gateshead, Gloucester, Nottingham, Poole, Sheffield and Stockport as well as in and around London. Our team really enjoy the challenge that this work brings and pull out all the stops to carry out the cleaning to a very high standard, within the allotted time and with a minimum of fuss.

Flexible working to meet our clients needs

In terms of timing we always plan work to suit our clients’ requirements and adhere to agreed schedules in order to cause minimum inconvenience. We also pre-confirm dates for cleaning and make sure that we are expected on site. Our operators can either start really early or work late into the night (as can be seen from the images below) to ensure they get the job done on deadline.

Staying safe when working at high level

We are genius at working at high level and know how to source and install niche access equipment that allows us to reach even the hardest to get to places. We always carry out rigorous Health and Safety checks in advance to ensure that our staff are properly kitted out with the appropriate equipment and that work is carried out safely – so our clients can rest assured that everything is compliant with Health and Safety requirements.

On several units we also cleaned out the gutters while we were up on the roof which will help protect the buildings from water damage, providing additional value for Big Yellow Self Storage.

If you want to find out more about multi-site cleaning anywhere in the UK contact Max or Andy Morris on 0333 234 1445 or email and we will get back to you.

 

Creative thinking delivers huge savings

OneFifty has just completed a large StoRend render cleaning project in the heart of Bristol’s Harbourside area. Balmoral and Waverley House – two eight storey buildings – are situated on either side of Cathedral Walk, a wide tree-lined pedestrian walkway.

Making the right impression

This is a popular area and the buildings need to be kept looking clean and smart, but being near the water’s edge they are constantly exposed to the elements and the pretty pastel facades had become weathered and discoloured. OneFifty had previously carried out a very successful façade clean for The Crescent – a residential development adjacent to Cathedral Walk. Being  keen to achieve the same high standards of cleaning on this project, the property managers chose OneFifty to do the work.

Creative thinking delivers huge savings

The property owners wanted to have the building façades cleaned and then repainted, but the cost to scaffold the buildings alone was estimated in the region of half a million pounds. This meant the proposed costs would exceed the available budget and everything would have to be put on hold for the foreseeable future!

By working in close collaboration with Jones Building Company, we came up with an access plan that would allow us to get the job done, without scaffolding the building. Our plan saved enough money to allow the project to be completed within the available budget and so, to everyone’s delight, the work went ahead.

Unique challenges

The location, the unusual shape of the building, and the extent of the work required all conspired to make this a challenging project.

It would take around three weeks to complete the work, but because there are shops, offices and leisure facilities on the ground floor, and residential apartments on the upper floors, we would not be able to close off access during that time.

The height of the buildings was not an issue for our staff who are IPAF trained and used to working at height; and the painters were also soon trained up to do the same. However, the restricted access and the curved shape of the buildings – including a Bull nose – did make this a particularly tricky project to work on.

Our solution

We used special access equipment, including cherry pickers and spider lifts with booms, to allow us to reach the full height of the building as well as the really difficult-to-get-to areas of the facade. We have considerable experience in this field, so knew exactly what was needed. We also managed to manoeuvre our kit into place, often with just millimetres to spare.

By working in close partnership with Jones Building Group we were able to plan and implement the work so as to allow our operatives to share the access equipment. As we completed the cleaning of a specific section, their painters were able to start painting.

Minimum interruption to residents or businesses

All work was carried out within normal working hours (between 08.00 and 17.00), so great care was taken to ensure minimum interruption to residents or businesses and any passers-by. Strict Health and Safety measures were adhered to at all times throughout to ensure the safety of people moving about within the vicinity, as well as of the operatives involved in the project.

The painting work is being completed as we publish, and has been a huge success. The building owners, residents and property managers are all very happy with what we have achieved – and the buildings are looking amazing.

For more information about our high level access or render or façade cleaning please contact Max or Andy Morris on 0333 234 1445​ or email your enquiry and we will get back to you. 

Big Clean for Big Yellow Self Storage

Over the cold grey winter months, we have been hard at work cleaning Big Yellow Self Storage units. Big Yellow Self Storage has huge units located all over the UK and the project provided an opportunity for us to prove our ability to deliver a brilliant service, and brilliant exterior surface cleaning, across multiple sites and over a wide geographic area.

Have van, will travel

The company first contacted us to clean their Bristol storage unit, as soon as they realised that we offer a far wider geographic cover they asked us to quote for additional units. We’ve now cleaned 19 of their massive storage units in London (and surrounding areas), Cardiff, Colchester, Nottingham and Sheffield, and we are about to complete one in Edinburgh.

Great service and competitive rates

Cost was a significant factor in winning these projects. Our unique pressurised steam cleaning system is extremely efficient which means that we can often complete cleaning projects to a very high standard more quickly than other companies – which makes us very competitive on price.

Efficient planning and communications  

But it’s not just about the cost and the quality of the cleaning, customer service was of critical importance as well. We soon came to realise that previous contractors had failed to deliver in terms of both the quality of their cleaning and the way that they went about their work.

Communication is key, we always call to pre-confirm dates for cleaning and make sure that it will be convenient for us to be on site. We also ensure that that we will be able to gain entry, set up our high-level access equipment and carry out work safely and efficiently. Because of the way the units are constructed – to maximise the land they go to the edge of the plot – it was often tricky to find a space in which to set up our kit. Having experience of working in some pretty tight spaces, we can source niche access equipment and get the job done.

Let the sun shine

The buildings that we cleaned for Big Yellow were mainly industrial style warehouses, many clad with aluminium, and a lot looked more green than yellow when we started work! steam cleaning, our pressurised steam cleaning equipment, is brilliant for cleaning all kinds of cladding and we were able to quickly remove layers of built-up dirt and grime, transforming the storage units back to their original bright and sunny yellow colour. We also cleaned out the gutters while we had the access equipment in place, which will help protect the buildings from water damage.

We’ve received very positive feedback from everyone at Big Yellow, and they have asked us to come and clean their car parks next.

To find out more about exterior cleaning for multi-site units please contact Max or Andy Morris on 0333 234 1445 or email and we will get back to you.

Exterior surface cleaning for One Glass Wharf

One Glass Wharf forms the centrepiece of Bristol’s high-end business quarter located on the river near Temple Meads Station. This award winning building features an undulating terracotta, zinc and glass façade as well as two wall slices made of smooth white composite stone. It’s an iconic building and it is therefore critical that it be kept looking immaculate at all times. Property managers, Knight Frank, rely on us to help them achieve this.

Planned cleaning achieves best outcome

To make the best use of their available budget, we clean different sections of the building each year, and at the same time we also tackle specific areas that are prone to staining from environmental pollution. This keeps the building looking fresh and well maintained at all times in the most cost efficient way.

We are very proud to retain this work on an ongoing basis, it’s a prestigious building inhabited by some of Bristol’s most high-profile businesses. It’s also a very challenging building to access and clean, but since we are always up for a challenge we like this!

Reach for the sky

We have a range of different high-level access equipment at our disposal which enables us to reach extremely high level external surfaces. For One Glass Wharf we brought in the spiders again, this time with even bigger truck-mounts to achieve the required outreach on one particular elevation. A 53 meter platform-mounted cherry picker, with a 39m horizontal out-reach, allowed us to reach all of the areas that we needed to clean. Our operators are experienced in high access cleaning work and are fully IPAF trained providing customers with complete peace of mind.

Brilliant cleaning keeps One Glass Wharf looking like new

On our most recent clean we worked on sections of the smooth white composite stone and certain areas of the terra cotta cladding. We also cleaned powder coated aluminium window frames and the glass arch system. While we had the access equipment in place we arranged for the windows to be cleaned as well, thus leaving the whole building looking pristine and shining like new.

Will Mellor of Knight Frank said, “One Glass Wharf is an important part of Knight Frank’s portfolio. We were chosen to manage the building because of the high level of service and support that we offer. I, in turn, use The Jet Washing Company to help me keep One Glass Wharf looking its best at all times. I know I can rely on them to deliver the best quality exterior surface cleaning, a very high quality of customer service and excellent value.”

To find out more about our exterior surface cleaning service please contact Max Morris on 0333 234 1445 or email your enquiry and we will get back to you.

Access all areas – cleaning the Environmental Agency’s roofs

We recently cleaned the roofs of the Environment Agency buildings in Exeter. The roofs are concrete-clad and over the years atmospheric pollution had built up on the corrugated surfaces leaving them covered in a thick layer of dirt. Because the pitch of the roof is quite low, the dirt was very evident so they had decided something needed to be done.

ACCESS CHALLENGES – SORTED

The facilities managers in charge of building maintenance were struggling to find a contractor to do the work. The ones they had spoken to had all proposed erecting scaffolding to access the roofs, and then cleaning off staging boards. Health and safety regulations prohibited anyone stepping onto the roofs, so they were not keen on this method of access. When we proposed using cherry pickers to gain high level access they were really pleased as it solved their dilemma. Our approach also meant work could be completed more quickly and more cost efficiently.

OUR EFFICIENT PROCESS WINS MORE NEW INSTRUCTIONS

The cleaning was carried out over two consecutive weekends so as to not interfere with their weekday schedule, and the whole project ran really smoothly. The roofs now look as good as new, you can see from the pictures what a difference our cleaning made.

The facilities managers in charge of the property were impressed by our planning and organisation and the way that we managed the whole project from start to finish, so much so that they have invited us back to do more work!

If you would like to know more about our roof and cladding cleaning services please email or give us a call on  0333 234 1445. 

Cleaning SUEZ Sort It centres

We recently cleaned the exterior and interior of two huge SUEZ (formerly SITA) Sort It centres in Bristol – Mangotsfield and Yate. It was a mucky task – but needs must, so our team simply rolled up their sleeves and got on with the job.

What a load of rubbish!

Every day tonnes of household and commercial waste are deposited at Sort It centres throughout the UK; kettles and fridges, sacks of rubble, garden waste, furniture, food stuffs, engine oil – all the stuff that people want to dispose of. These centres are basically transfer stations and the rubbish is on its first step of a process that will include sorting then composting, reusing, recycling (wherever possible) or being disposed of in the most environmental way possible.

A fast and efficient turnaround

SUEZ needed us to clean both the outside and the inside of these units. A build-up of dirt on the metal internal wall cladding had created a potential fire hazard and needed to be cleaned to conform with strict Health and Safety requirements.

This was the first job that we had ever done for SUEZ and we were keen to demonstrate our skills. It was a sizeable project – two enormous warehouses – and the work needed to be completed quickly. This was no problem as we had both the resources and the equipment to allow us to implement cleaning and complete the work within the required timings.

From grimy to shiny – using state of the art cleaning equipment

Our pressurised steam cleaning system made light work of removing the built-up dirt on both the external and internal cladding. We were able to use cherry pickers, both inside and out, to access the high fronts and sides. All work was carried out out-of-hours so as to not interrupt their day-to-day business.

This was a real transformational clean. Using pressurised steam, we were able to remove the black grime and return the metal cladding to its original pale grey colour – as shown in the images below. Work was completed well within the required time frame and our client was very pleased with the outcome.

If you would like to know more about our industrial cleaning services please email or us a call on 0333 234 1445.

 

Façade cleaning for Oasis Academies

We were delighted to be asked to clean the façades of two Oasis Academy buildings, one in Bristol and one in Southampton. Oasis is one of the largest Multi-Academy Trusts in England. First created in 2004, it now has 48 academies located throughout the country serving over 25,000 young people. The Trust aims to offer exceptional education and raise the bar for its students. Maintaining the academy buildings and ensuring that they provide a pleasant learning environment for students is an important part of delivering on their promise.

Careful planning to meet required time frames

These were both sizeable buildings and, as is often the case with school projects, work needed to be completed within a specific time slot over the summer break, ready for the start of the new school year. It also needed to be planned and implemented so as to not clash with other projects and activities taking place over this period. We allocated a team of dedicated operators to each project to help ensure that work would be completed well within the required time frames.

Our safe and reliable render cleaning process

Both building façades have been rendered to achieve a smooth surface which looks great, however over time the surface can become discoloured as a result of environmental and organic pollutants. Render cleaning requires a careful approach; too much pressure can break the integrity of the surface, whilst excess water can permeate the render, both can cause damage. We are experienced in cleaning rendered façades and have developed a very successful three-step cleaning process that achieves great results without compromising the render.

  • First we clean the surface using pressurised steam at 150°C at a low 40 Bar pressure which delivers a gentle but impressive clean, and ensures that all surface dirt and algae deposits are effectively removed.
  • Next we treat the surface with a special biocide render wash to kill algae and moss, and help inhibit regrowth.
  • A final pass with pressurised steam ensures that we leave the façades looking brilliantly clean.

Our process ensures that the surface integrity of the render is not broken or compromised. It has been officially approved by leading manufacturer Sto Render, but works equally well across all types of render. Our client was delighted by both our reliable and efficient service and the brilliant cleaning results that we achieved.

If you would like to know more about our render cleaning service please email or call on 0333 234 1445.