Flying high

Sara Bean visits Farnborough Airport to see how the team from Peartree Cleaning maintain the highest cleaning standards at the premier aviation hub

While every FM services provider knows that quality of service and attention to detail are always paramount, the higher end the client the more exacting the standards. This is even more of the case when it comes to the hospitality sector and one of the most exclusive hospitality settings is a private aviation hub.

Farnborough Airport is the leading business aviation airport in the UK and Europe and the birthplace of British aviation history. It was there, in 1908, that the first powered flight took place on UK soil. Today the Airport handles 600 flights per week, on a site which spans approximately 310 hectares (770 acres).

Peartree Cleaning, led by Site Manager Carlos Arias has been delivering a cleaning service to this complex and demanding site over the past four years with an attention to detail that reflects the prestige of the environment and the expectations of its exclusive clientele.

PEARTREE PROFILE

Peartree is a family business founded by former mechanic Managing Director Bradley Reames in 1986 and has grown to 1,500 employees and a £30 million turnover. The company specialises in high-end commercial cleaning of offices and retail sites including Selfridges in Manchester and Birmingham. The company’s gold standard reputation led to Farnborough Airport approaching Peartree four years ago when the incumbent cleaning contract was up for renewal to ask them to take part in a competitive tender process.

Explains Max Reames, Peartree’s Senior Business Development Manager: “The opportunity for Farnborough was a bit of a unicorn opportunity and not something that we were actively chasing. They’d gone to market, found our details and got in touch with us, rather than the other way around, which is a unique place to be in.

“It’s a very high-profile site given the clientele that pass through the Airport – so a high standard is expected.”

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Within the passenger terminal there are a range of lounges offering the very best in luxury travel, so the client and their visitors expect a flawless level of cleanliness, from the bathrooms to the seating areas. To help meet these exacting standards, Site Manager Carlos Arias runs a very tight ship to ensure that not one tiny detail can undermine the overall impression.

Arias, who’d previously worked in the commercial office sector in London, joined the team one year into the contract when the site was still operating with reduced hours from the pandemic period. He implemented a feasibility survey to determine how to deliver high standards of cleanliness with limited hours and without the option of agency cover due to strict security requirements. He solved the problem by optimising shift structures and cross-training staff to support one another across all the buildings on site.

“We have a great team here,” he says, “and many of them have been with us for more than 10 years, so they know what they must do all the time.”

Since joining the Farnborough contract Arias has been mentoring the team staff and encourages continuous learning and engagement to ensure they can all work across the site safely and productively.

He adds: “I will still go into the detail to ensure that nothing is missed, from smears on the mirrors to any dust on top of the partitions, as an eye to the detail is paramount.”

“We’re also working in a pet friendly environment, and we even use special blankets in the lounge areas on top of the sofas to avoid all the fur accumulating.”

Cleaning within a private terminal means combining a discreet but exclusive service.

Reames says: “On one of the Airport sites for instance the Meadow Gate offices our staff would wear what you expect to within an office, but in the terminal our housekeeping staff aren’t in our standard housekeeping uniform, they’re in a shirt, trousers and a blazer. You can still identify them, but this reflects the hospitality level focus.”

STANDARDS & COMPLIANCE

Given the size and scale of the site, there is the logistical headache of getting people from A to B. To address this, Peartree purchased two electric vehicles to access all areas quickly and discreetly, especially when there is a rush on to meet tight turnaround times – which often includes cleaning and restocking the cutlery and crockery on the planes.

Says Russell Sutton, Divisional Director at Peartree: “Some of these items have gold surround and come in special boxes while others are brought out on a tray, but whatever the circumstances we’ll wash and dry them, sometimes almost immediately and double wrap in tissue to preserve them safely.”

Adds Arias: “Given their value we’ll also ensure we count them before sending back. Recently we were asked to do a 15-minute turnaround, so all the available cleaning staff were deployed to make sure it was done on time and to the right quality.”

Another key challenge is in meeting health, safety and compliance. As well as requiring special training to drive around runways safely the cleaning team, explains Arias are charged with maintaining the hangar spaces where they may need to use harnesses to access the spaces.

Says Arias: “For the hangars and airside spaces, we’re particularly safety conscious because staff are using heavy equipment. For us that means holding toolbox [H&S] talks with them regularly, to repeat the same things to them about safety.”

Arias recalls seeing hard to reach cobwebs which couldn’t be accessed, so researched a product that could clear out any cobwebs around the building, including the terminal and metal gates. This resulted in the purchase of a SkyVac, a high-level high-reach, industrial-strength vacuum system designed primarily for cleaning gutters and high-level internal areas from the safety of the ground.

COMMUNICATIONS

Working on such a dispersed site where the quality of cleaning must be matched with a seamless and prompt level of service means that communications between both the Peartree team and their client is of huge importance. The result is a contract that runs smoothly, with minimal issues and consistent praise from both the Airport and its tenants.

Team morale is strong. Many members have worked at Farnborough for years and take pride in their work and the trust placed in them. The team’s willingness to help, means that four years into the contract the feedback from Farnborough Airport and its tenants is consistently glowing. Clients describe the site as “a dream to manage” with a positive culture built on respect, trust and shared pride.

As Max Reames, Senior Business Development Manager concludes: “The team here are very proud of working here as well. I think it’s quite unique. The Peartree cleaning team based here also see themselves as staff at Farnborough Airport, not just staff of the cleaning company, which is a really nice place to be.

“We want the team that are on site to feel part of the wider organisation where they are based. We’ve given them all the tools and the support that they need, and they are really proud of being here and it really does show.”