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Mitie has opened a new Cleaning Training Centre of Excellence at Manchester Airport in Terminal 2 to support high‑quality cleaning training and skills development.
The new centre reinforces Mitie’s long‑term commitment to developing its people, embedding digital ways of working and delivering consistently high standards of service as part of its seven‑year partnership with Manchester Airports Group (MAG).
Created as a dedicated space for learning, development and practical demonstrations, the centre will play a key role in how colleagues are trained, supported and equipped to succeed in their roles at one of the UK’s busiest airports, which welcomes more than 30 million passengers annually.
The centre provides a space for training in both Mitie’s autonomous cleaning robots, known as “cobots”, and its digital task management system, Merlin. Colleagues will learn to programme and map the cobots, building digital capability and allowing robot‑supported cleaning to be used across the airport. Merlin is embedded into onboarding training, helping new colleagues build confidence using digital tools in a controlled environment before moving into the airport, improving confidence in the role.
This builds on Mitie’s established expertise in delivering cleaning training centres at major transport hubs, including Heathrow Airport, where in its first three months upskilled more than 380 cleaning colleagues, onboarded over 130 new starters.
Mark Allen, Account Director, Service Delivery Cleaning, Mitie, said: “This new Training Centre of Excellence is about investing in our people and giving them the right tools, confidence and support to succeed. By combining high-quality, practical training with digital technology like our cleaning robots, we’re building a workforce that is confident, capable and ready to meet the evolving needs of Manchester Airport and the millions of passengers who travel through it every year.”
Paul Lupton, Head of Facilities Management at Manchester Airport, said: “We’re proud be the North’s gateway to the world and first impressions are important – that’s why we’ve invested £1.3 billion in our state-of-the-art Terminal 2 and are also carrying out work to improve and modernise Terminal 3, but on top of that, it’s also important our terminals are looking their best.
“That’s where our partnership with Mitie is so vital, and we appreciate their commitment to keeping at the cutting edge, giving their staff access to the best training available and refining their working practices to ensure we’re able to collectively provide a world-beating passenger experience.”
FMJ and Watco Webinar: Meeting compliance in a new culture of accountability
From January 2026, the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) formally separated from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Created under the Building Safety Act 2022 in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the BSR is designed to raise safety standards across the built environment and introduce a stronger culture of accountability, transparency, and proactive risk management.
This shift places facilities managers in a more strategic safety assurance role – far beyond routine maintenance.
FMJ and Watco are hosting a webinar on 22 April at 11:00am to explore what this new regulatory landscape means for FMs. To register for the webinar click here.
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Simply register above and after the webinar has been broadcast, we will send you a link to watch the recording.
