Soho has come a long way from the dirty, smelly, cramped streets of only a few decades ago, when the area was best known as a centre for film, music, and, well, an industry of an altogether less salubrious kind.
Then, as wealthier people moved in and it became ‘trendier’ in the 1980s, things started to change. The old, less than desirable shops and trades were moved out and slowly, but surely, the vibrant, bustling, bar and restaurant culture we see today grew up.
Soho today is a busy tourist-filled area with expensive venues to eat and drink in, a place to wander on a warm summer’s evening, or somewhere to meet friends to go out and party on a weekend. And with this change has come a new desire to keep the area clean and safe.
Block managers know that if they want to ensure their flats sell for the best price possible they have to keep them clean inside and out, and commercial spaces that rely on footfall for their success know that they too must look every bit as pristine as their customers would expect of them.
It’s not at all surprising then that we do a lot of business in Soho, cleaning windows for retailers and high-rise residential blocks, offices and venues. However, the area’s popularity poses a problem.
Whether we’re working on the ground with water-fed poles, from cradles or abseiling down a building, there’s an element of danger about our job. Every member of our team is a highly trained professional required to go on regular health and safety refresher courses, but when there’s any possibility of equipment (or even just water), falling from height it makes sense to ensure that the public are nowhere nearby while we work. But, in such a high footfall area that’s not easy.
One solution is to work when the footfall is a little quieter, so we have been known to agree to late night, early morning and weekend schedules. And, when quiet times are few and far between we’ve been known to split a large job into several days’ work in order to make things easier for our clients.
In a place like Soho there is never a time when you can guarantee there will be nobody around, so we still put out all the necessary warning signs to guide pedestrians away from areas directly below where we’re working.
Our job requires us to be careful in a million ways to ensure our safety and the safety of others, so we’re happy to be flexible in timings and cleaning methods in order to achieve this.
We love Soho, and we want to be a part of keeping the area clean and safe, so if your windows need cleaning, no matter the height, contact us today and we’ll work our schedule around yours to keep your windows sparkling clean.
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