Super charged and ready for expansion
Super Laundry Limited recently announced that, despite the ongoing pandemic, they had taken a new lease on their sixth laundry unit – their third premises in London’s King’s Cross.
The business was initially formed in 2008 out of an old fashioned launderette in Islington and now employs 90 staff (and growing) across two – soon to be three – commercial laundries and two shops.
The Super Laundry team at work
William Ray, director at Super Laundry Limited, said on Twitter: “Whilst maybe not our preferred time to take on another unit, with expansion always on the cards and industrial units not coming up very often (especially not ones directly next door to us) you need to grab every opportunity.” This unit will allow the business to dedicate one building to dirty laundry and the current unit next door to the drying, ironing and packing of clean items which Ray says “can only be good during these challenging times, as each unit will have its own entrance and exit although still interconnected.”
They hope to get the keys in the coming weeks but, as they’re already neighbours with the current tenants, they’ve been able to gain access to get started with the planning and design. They’re already in the process of going to tender for new equipment and Ray hopes that they’ll be up and running and fully operational in the new premises by the end of the year at the latest.
He said, “We had a record January and February this year doing circa 50,000 to 60,000 items per day. March was heading the same way until the pandemic struck but we already knew that we were reaching maximum capacity across all current laundries and expansion was on the cards.
“With our new unit we will double our laundering capacity in central London and our proximity to both the City and West End will ensure all our customers soon benefit from our new and growing electric fleet. We will also be working closely with Paul from Fox Energy to see how we can make this our greenest and most environmentally friendly laundry yet. “Our current customer base is 95 per cent gyms, health clubs and spas etc and we are confident that these clients will bounce back over the next six months or so. However, during COVID-19 we’ve been contacted by a large range of different new clients from care homes to nurseries and hotels and we intend to diversify into these different markets and make the most efficient use of the new space we’ll have.”
We’ll keep in touch with the team at Super Laundry and share more details of their expansion journey in a future issue of Laundry & Cleaning Today.
CLEAN has relaunched its Driver Academy in a bid to encourage more delivery drivers into the industry.
Professional drivers perform an essential role at CLEAN, delivering millions of pieces of linen and workwear annually to customers around the UK and with the business continuing to grow, the company is looking to increase its driver numbers from the current 205 it already employs.
However, with the UK currently facing a shortage of almost 50,000 HGV drivers caused by a 25 per cent drop in new driver license acquisitions, CLEAN has developed a plan to help boost numbers.
The CLEAN Driver Academy includes a full Induction process in van driving (B licence up to 3.5 tonnes MPW and no Driver CPC) and LGV driving (C1, C, CE over 3.5 tonnes MPW with a Driver CPC required).
The one-day Van Driver and LGV Driver training covers a wide number of areas, including speed awareness, vehicle checks, safe loading and load restraint, road craft, tachographs, manual handling, safe operation of tail lifts, and customer care. Assessments on certain areas will be held before participants sit a 50-question paper.
Papers for both courses require a 75 per cent pass rate, with successful candidates then considered for a delivery driver job with CLEAN.
As well as running the induction courses for new drivers, CLEAN runs a dedicated training programme to up-skill its current workforce. This includes Driver CPC training, regular Driver Assessments and driving style measurements from the vehicle telematics system, as well as post incident training.
In addition, CLEAN actively encourages employees in other departments, who express an interest in driving, to join the ‘Warehouse to Wheels’ project. This provides on the job training and assessments, along with access to the required driving test for the appropriate licence category. CLEAN has also taken a proactive approach in recruiting and mentoring newly qualified LGV drivers who may normally struggle to obtain employment.
Tim Bright, head of transport at CLEAN, said: “The impact of the driver shortage is affecting many businesses across the UK in an economy that is reliant on the movement of heavy goods. As CLEAN continues on its growth trajectory, we are more dedicated than ever to providing opportunities to both our existing and future employees that serve CLEAN and the UK transportation industry as a whole.
“Our plan is to not only eliminate many of the challenges and obstacles that have led to this shortage, such as the financial costs of becoming a HGV driver, but also provide high-quality training that will upskill our drivers to the benefit of the economy, as more qualified professionals strengthen the nation’s workforce.”
CLEAN previously ran its Drivers Academy in 2017.
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