The Star: May 10, 2018

The Star Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Thursday May 10 2018 9
For your
special
lady on
clean the city’s windows
day
But with the new buildings
has come different ways to
clean them. Previously, they
were a lot taller, so more rope
access was required.
However, now the height
limit has been reduced, windows
could be accessed using
machinery, which was a lot
faster, Mr Matsis said.
He said Goleman Group had
purchased more machinery as
a result.
In Christchurch, Goleman
Group has about 30 technicians,
20 of whom were on the
window cleaning high ropes.
All staff had comprehensive
training before being able to
start working on the ropes.
Every building had different
requirements when it came
to cleaning its windows. They
had just finished doing the
HSBC Building on Worcester
Boulevard, and were cleaning
the Deloitte building this
week.
“Safety has got to be the
priority.’’
Many people approached
the company wanting jobs for
the thrill of it.
“After six months it’s just
another job,’’ Mr Matsis said.
JetX manager Marc Walker
had “definitely” seen a jump
in demand in the past two or
three years as the central city
buildings were constructed.
“In terms of window cleaning
and abseilers, work has
doubled at least,” he said.
“These new facades are just
glass, glass, glass.”
He said they had about
seven or eight abseilers, many
of whom had backgrounds in
rock climbing or abseiling so
they did not have a problem
with heights. All were specially
trained.
“We’re finding it’s getting
CLEAN:
JetX cleans
buildings
such as
the PWC
building in
the central
city, which
takes four
staff about
a week to
do.
PHOTOS:
MARTIN
HUNTER
busier and busier.”
Mr Walker said some of the
new buildings were not practical
to clean, which meant they
took a lot longer.
They had worked on high
rise buildings such as the
PWC building, the Justice and
Emergency Services Precinct,
Grand Central and The Crossing.
Mr Walker said PWC would
have taken four abseilers about
a week to do. The Justice and
Emergency Services Precinct
would take a lot longer because
of its sheer size, he said.
Ministry of Justice commercial
and property general
manager Fraser Gibbs said it
was finalising a contract for
the regular cleaning of the
precinct’s windows.
“It is anticipated that the
ground floor windows will be
cleaned once a month while
the windows above ground
level will be washed every
three months (quarterly) by
abseilers.”
Mr Gibbs was unable to say
what the ongoing costs would
be as it was commercially
sensitive and subject to negotiation.
Meanwhile, the cost of
cleaning the outside of the
city council’s civic offices’
windows is $56,000 annually.
Head of facilities, property
and planning Bruce Rendall
said several different contractors
were used to clean the
windows.
He said the exterior windows
were normally cleaned
quarterly, which required
abseilers.
It was currently trialling
whether the frequency could
be reduced which would lower
the $56,000 cost.
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