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Press Article – on the work Cleanex do at Stoke City’s Stadium and Academy
We have been featured in Tomorrow’s Cleaning, August edition. This incredible, in-depth article describes what goes into the task of industrial clean up of a Premier League football stadium and other related facilities. It’s a great read!
See page 44 and 45 to see the article >>>> DOWNLOAD
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CLEANEX KEEPS STOKE CITY FC GROUND IN PREMIER CONDITION
Premier league football club Stoke City is regularly home to over 28,000 fans. The Potters are the second oldest professional football club in the world and the stadium also includes a second football pitch sized training academy in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.
With a reputation to uphold both on and off the pitch – the team also needs to keep its house in order which is why for the last two years they have enlisted the help of Industrial Cleaning specialists Cleanex Contract Service Limited – part of AM Services Group – to keep the Bet 365 stadium in premier condition for its fans and players alike.
Based next to a large industrial incinerator and on the edge of the A50 – the direct route in and out of Stoke on Trent – the Stadium is subject to constant airborne pollution and contaminates from the environment which settle onto the landmark. This has created the need for regular industrial cleaning to keep it in fan-worthy condition.
Most recently in June this year, the team at Cleanex were brought in to facilitate the difficult task of high level jet washing the exterior of the stadium including all of its cladding. The team also cleaned the two bronze statues of its former players, Stanley Matthews and Gordon Banks, the main reception and also handled both the internal and external cleaning of the vinyl dome at its training academy – which stands over 10 metres high at its highest point
Starting with the statues, it was vital due to their delicate nature that the correct pressure was used in to clear the build of moss and algae on the stone bases. Special attention was paid to the chemicals selected ensuring there that would be no adverse reaction with the bronze. Delicate precision was required and applied during this process to ensure no damage during the works.
A team of three from Cleanex tackled the essential exterior works, which despite being at high level, posed no major challenge for the experts who are well versed in complex, power washing techniques and experienced in working at height. However, due to the location of the areas which required cleaning there were a number of logistics to manage. The team had to consider public safety due the size and scale of the machinery being used – which ranged from 7-15 tons. Their solution was to set up clear ‘exclusion zones’ around the machines. It was also necessary to manage and temporarily stop the flow of the traffic around the stadium – whilst re-routing pedestrians for their own safety. This ensured safe completion of the job with minimum disruption or impact to the public.
High level access equipment in the form of 125ft cherry pickers was selected to enable the team to reach the heights required to do the job. A petrol powered vehicle housed the jet washing units which were mounted onto trailers alongside containers holding 1,000 litres of water. The team then used the high pressure jet washers to blast the cladding clean and licensed stand pipes for water were used to jet wash the exterior of the stadium & training academy in just a week.
On this occasion the firm was able to avoid any chemical cleaners and found the sheer pressure of the water sufficient to thoroughly clean the cladding and structural steelwork of the stadium. A team of three operatives rigorously undertook the job working with the complex machinery.
During this time however, other major works were also being completed around the stadium including the removal and renewal of the pitch. This meant that the Cleanex team not only had to consider their own logistics, but they also had to work around the other contractors which entailed early starts and late finishes to get the job done.
Chris Condliff, Operations Director at Cleanex said; “This is the second time we have completed large and detailed works for Stoke City and we have now established a very strong relationship with the team at the ground. It was fantastic to see the job fulfilled especially due to its complex and somewhat dangerous nature with all of the heights involved. The added challenges of working around the ground workers and negotiating access for all of our heavy machinery were just part of the job. We found a solution that worked for everyone and this included some additional work outside of hours but it was necessary to get the job done professionally and to the best of our ability. We completed the works over three weeks due to the sheer size and scale of the grounds and were very pleased with the end results.”