Ecocleen is delighted to announce the fantastic news that Ecocleen and Ecocleen South West have won an eight-year contract with HOST Somerset who are operating the two construction worker campus sites that support Hinkley Point C, the largest construction project in Europe.
“It’s fantastic to be linked with a project of this size and length,” said Ecocleen South West’s Regional Director, Jim Humphrey, who signed the £1.5m deal and will be heading up the project along with his team.
The contract is an extremely well-deserved win for Jim’s team, who have worked tirelessly over the past three years to secure the deal.” “Ecocleen submitted a successful proposal back in May 2017, with work on the project beginning in May this year. “The long term fostering of the relationship has resulted in the dream of this project coming to fruition,” said Jean-Henri Beukes, Ecocleen Managing Director.
Ecocleen will be cleaning 15 residential blocks on the site with a staggering 510 bedrooms, in addition to rest and recreation areas. The next step in the journey is the addition of a new accommodation campus twice the size, expected to open in Bridgwater this autumn, with a total of 986 rooms and 29 blocks.
Hinkley Point C in Somerset is the first in a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK, providing low-carbon electricity for around 6m homes. But the project is about more than just power, as local benefits are at the heart of Hinkley Point C, aiming to deliver many of the long-term benefits that it will stimulate to Somerset and the South West.
Ecocleen was chosen from several strong competitors due to EDF Energy’s desire to procure services locally. Jim explains: “Ecocleen ticked the boxes for the project’s local agenda. They didn’t want to just parachute a massive global company into that project. Local companies had to be involved where possible.”
This is an incredible opportunity for Ecocleen as we are now accredited to work on a nuclear project with a global impact, and expanding our remit to the hospitality industry will further increase our profile as the number one commercial cleaning provider in the UK. We will also have the chance to look at pivoting with this group if they embark on any other project anywhere else in the UK or globally, and Jim will have front row tickets in looking at the 60+ year service contracts that will flow once the site is commissioned.
“I’m very proud that we’ve overcome the challenges this project has brought. There have been time pressures – we only had a month to get everything ready from starting up to the hotel’s formal opening – and it’s also been a new challenge understanding the differences between conventional contract cleaning, which we’re used to, and housekeeping. We’ve also hired brand new staff, so we’ve placed a lot of emphasis on teambuilding,” says Jim. “It’s been a steep learning curve but it’s all been worth it.”
Many congratulations to Jim and the South West team for championing this project – you have done yourselves, your business and the Ecocleen brand so proud.
