Machines2clean

31/07/2026

HIRE from Machines2clean, Cumbernauld, carpet extractor cleaning machines from £44.00 per day
https://www.machines2clean.com/industrial-cleaning-machine-hire/industrial-carpet-extraction-cleaner-hire.html/HIRE-Fimap-fe18-injection-extraction-106798.html

30/07/2026

Menzies Aviation, one of the world's largest aviation services providers, is transforming workforce operations across 65 countries and 65,000 employees with UKG - the AI Workforce Operating Platform for HR, payroll, and workforce management. By uni...

30/07/2026

https://www.thecleanzine.com/pages/24415/parents_now_believe_skilled_trades_including_cleaning_offer_better_roi_than_college_by_nearly_3_1_study_finds/

Edmonton, Canada-based Jobber, the renowned provider of software for blue collar businesses – including cleaning, has this week released its annual 2026 Blue Collar Report titled: ‘The great career reset: Why America is rethinking college...

29/07/2026

Nationwide Hire Ltd files court papers

23/07/2026

Cleaning: just how does one get it right? I suppose the majority of facilities generally do, but it’s the ones that don’t, which we remember – often long after the event and sometimes to the extent that we won’t return as a result. So many of the problems experienced can be down to usage though… not just abuse by members of the public who should know better, but also during perhaps unexpectedly busy times when the place simply becomes overwhelmed. Should someone from the cleaning team be on call to pop in and give everything a ‘quick once-over’, replenish disposables and empty the bins? And what about the extra costs of having someone on standby, who may or may not actually be needed to do any cleaning/replenishing?
How about local parks? On dry, sunny weekends when more families are likely to visit and thus overflow the bins, should one of the council’s street cleaners be given responsibility for travelling to each at least once an afternoon to empty them, to prevent rubbish from being rummaged through and scattered far and wide by foxes, which will make everything harder to clean up come Monday? Or would that timely intervention be more expensive than Monday’s clean-up costs?
I can recall, decades (and several cleaning magazine editorships) ago, talking to a manager in a company contracted to clean the EUs buildings, many parts of which were only sporadically used. By this I mean the two sets of headquarters in Brussels and Strasbourg, when only one was properly used at a time, along with various Brussels committee rooms and the like which might only be used a few times a year even when the buildings were occupied. According to my source, the schedules never wavered; everything had to be cleaned to schedule, every day or week, whether that room/part of the building had been used or not. To both of us, (and probably many others involved) it seemed like an incredible waste of our money…
Fast forward a few decades… I’ve not stopped pondering over news we ran in last week’s broadcast on physical AI technology specialist Butlr’s, Smart Cleaning module (https://www.thecleanzine.com/pages/24393/ if you missed it) - one of many new systems transforming our industry beyond all recognition. Combining thermal body heat sensing technology and machine learning to infer behaviour, it offers a solution to some of the issues our industry faces - reducing unnecessary costs without compromising cleaning standards by constantly alerting us to the reality of what’s going on in our buildings and allowing us to react accordingly. I never envisaged all those years ago that this type of technology would be available… No longer do we have to devise and endlessly rejig cleaning schedules to cater for potential busy periods as it’s being done for us. That’s quite something, isn’t it? Where next I wonder?

Courtesy of Cle@nzine 23/072026

22/07/2026

OCS announces recommended acquisition of Mitie, expanding its UK-headquartered International Facilities Management Group
OCS has announced its recommended acquisition of Mitie, bringing together two complementary businesses specialising in facilities management and transformation. Completion is subject to the terms and conditions set out in the Rule 2.7 announcement, including approval by Mitie's shareholders and regulatory approvals.
The proposed combination would create a UK-headquartered international facilities management group with broader sector expertise and geographic reach, bringing together two businesses with complementary strengths, a shared British heritage and an entrepreneurial spirit.
The proposed combination would strengthen the group's ability to support existing and new customers operating in increasingly complex, regulated and mission-critical environments across government, defence, healthcare, national infrastructure, life-sciences and commercial markets. By broadening its portfolio of self-delivered specialist facilities services and continuing to invest in people, technology and operational excellence, the combined group would be better positioned to help clients navigate evolving operational, regulatory and compliance requirements while enhancing long-term resilience and performance.
The combination would create broader opportunities for colleagues through continued investment in training, apprenticeships and career development across a wider range of services, sectors and geographies, reinforcing the group's mission and commitment to creating inclusive pathways into sustainable employment and social mobility.
"This is an important milestone for both organisations and an exciting opportunity to bring together two highly complementary businesses with a shared commitment to delivering the best outcomes for colleagues and customers,” said Rob Legge, group chief executive officer of OCS.
“Subject to completion, we would build a British facilities management group that is better positioned to support the organisations that keep the country running. Together, we can better support existing and new customers, help more people into work and strengthen our contribution to getting Britain moving. While there is a long process ahead, both businesses remain focused on supporting customers and delivering the high standards they expect every day. Together, we can build something remarkable for our colleagues, our customers and the country."
Phil Bentley, chief executive officer of Mitie, added: "Today's announcement is a testament to everything we have achieved at Mitie in recent years - especially the talent and expertise of our people, the business we have built together as well as its future potential. This recommended offer reflects the strength of Mitie's brand, capabilities and reputation, and delivers value for our shareholders.
“As part of a larger group with a wider geographical footprint, Mitie would have an even stronger platform to invest in our people, technology and services, and to do even more for the customers and communities we support. There is a process still to run and much to work through. Until completion, it is business as usual, and our focus stays firmly on delivering safely and reliably for our customers every day."
https://ocs.com/

22/07/2026

Dundee FC has announced that all necessary documentation has now been submitted to Dundee City Council relating to the Camperdown Stadium Project. It follows almost two years of dialogue between the Club’s project consultants, city planners and Transport Scotland. After the initial submission for...

21/07/2026

https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2026/07/21/ocs-strikes-3-1bn-deal-to-buy-mitie/

Takeover creates £8.5bn UK-headquartered FM powerhouse

17/07/2026

Decade-long programme sets out dock, waterfront and engineering projects at Clyde, Devonport and Portsmouth

02/07/2026

Word travels fast nowadays, thanks to the Internet - and, in particular, social media, so companies really ought to be careful when it comes to their customer services. For while the perfect, non-clunky website is a must – along with a means to drive traffic to it in the first place, (either through great PR and/or advertising in the appropriate media, plus well-earned word of mouth recommendations) - customer services can be ‘make or break’ and it’s clear that not enough companies are aware of that these days. I really don’t know what’s happened but I’m left shaking my head in despair so, so often…
It's almost as if somebody’s come up with a training package that everyone’s been forced to adopt – and to their own detriment, without realising it. Once we’ve gone through the AI chatbot or ‘phone assistant, which is rarely set up to offer the exact option we need, we breathe a sigh of relief knowing we’re being put through to a customer services representative. But that relief is so rarely warranted, don’t you think? If we’re phoning about a problem, instead of hurrying up and dealing efficiently with the problem itself, we’re asked how we’re doing today. The overly polite rep seems to want to make friends, rather than get to grips with what we’re after, or what’s troubling us, and come up with a solution. The call takes twice as long as it should because of the niceties and - if they feel it will help - sucking-up stock phrases being read from a prompt.
This doesn’t make us feel at all valued. It makes us feel that the company doesn’t understand us and doesn’t care and it makes us wish we never did business with them in the first place. If we’ve phoned about a problem, empty promises are made because that’s what the company expects us to want to hear. But promises made and not kept just make things far worse than they were originally. "Oh we are so sad to learn that you are having issues and my colleague was unable to solve them as promised. It must be incredibly upsetting for you and we can understand how frustrating it must be for you” (it goes on...). Then we have to go through everything regarding the issue from start to finish, since either inadequate notes have been made previously or the current rep hasn’t bothered to read them or can’t understand them.
It's not just Virgin Media of course (yes I’m still without email access six-weeks tomorrow – so please continue to use [email protected] if you wish to get in touch) but everyone I deal with who’s outsourced their customer services to save money. Business is about relationships, and if you leave yourself unable to build a relationship that makes your customers want to do business with you, you’re on a hiding to nothing.

Courtesy Cle@nzine 2nd July 2026.