The Big Clean Up
Tower Hamlets Homes kicks
off a 6 month, 800 block pilot deep cleaning
programme -one of the biggest cleaning schemes to be tackled
by us.
Joint planners for the pilot are Claire
Demmel, Head of Estate Services and Jonathan Gregory – Head of
Neighbourhood Housing Services.
“Our caretakers clean the blocks every day,
but over time dirt and grime gets engrained on the stairs and
walkways. The only way to get rid of this is to carry out a deep
clean,” said Claire.
The first two blocks to benefit from the
big clean up got underway last week on the Hereford estate,
Bethnal Green. Residents in Westhope and Kinsham Houses watched as
their communal stairs, balconies, and parts of the outside of the
buildings were spruced up by Tower Hamlets Homes’ team of
specialist cleaners.
“We let residents know we were coming a few
days before we started, giving residents plenty of time to move
their things off the balconies. Most residents seemed really
pleased to see us.”
The deep cleaning programme is being managed
in-house to keep costs down. The scheme will see fully trained
specialist caretaking team clean-up stairways, balconies,
handrails, lifts, walls and windows in communal spaces.
“We’re using the pilots to assess how long it
takes us to clean each block and work out the best way to use the
resources we have. It’s a big challenge but we’re determined to
meet it head on”, said Claire.
“Every resident deserves to live in a clean
and tidy block. The programme will make a big difference to
residents and will support the work we already do cleaning
estates.”