Window Cleaning SuperHeroes in Doha

THOUGH they are famous for rescuing damsels in distress and saving the world, cartoon superheroes - Spiderman, Batman and Superman - appeared live at the Movenpick Tower and Suites building yesterday on an entirely different mission. Scaling the 26-storey building were more than 10 Asian workers of Spider Style Tower Cleaning Company (SSTC), dressed as the superheroes, in a bid to perform the heroic deed of cleaning the hotel’s glass windows. According to SSTC operation manager/partner Ahmad Harake, the idea of using the cartoon characters was to show the kind of tasks the company takes up. “SSTC maintains the cleanliness of windows, mirrors and other glass surfaces by cleaning exterior window panes and interior panes if desired. Often thought of as a simple, unskilled job, high-rise window cleaning requires mastery of difficult techniques that sets the amateurs apart from the experts,” he said. On safety measures and to why the cleaners were only being supported by a rope, he reassured that the rope was a special one widely in use in Asia and Europe for such daunting tasks. The hotel’s general manager, Philippe Bonnot, said the hotel just wanted to be part of the fun by engaging SSTC.“We have informed our in-house guests to have no worries if they see a strangely clad figure outside their bedroom window – it is only a Batman trying to brighten their view,” he said.

AMITABH JHA, DOHA. Ever seen Spiderman, or Batman, or for that matter, Superman in person and in action? You could have on Sunday if you had been in West Bay Area here between 11.10 am and 11.55 am. Awe-struck passers by near the Movenpick Tower and Suits who saw the unique sight halted in their tracks for a moment. It was only after some effort that they could figure out that these were normal men dressed up in costumes of the superheroes. In fact, there were five Spidermans, five Batmans and as many Supermans, they noticed before moving on with a chuckle. That was what the show planned by the 350-room hotel’s general manager Philippe Bonnot and executed by the personnel of Spider Style Tower Cleaning WLL set out to achieve.“Negotiations were extensive but after exhaustive discussions we eventually persuaded a number of our favourite superheroes to pay us a visit in Doha, once they have finished saving the world of course,” said Bonnot initially refusing to get out of the make believe world. On return to ‘real time’ he said, “These are the men who in course of their normal work brighten the day of our guests by cleaning the windows of the hotel. This time they are out to bring a smile on the face of residents and guests alike.” But safe fun, rides on the back of considerable groundwork and time. It took two months for the idea to flower into a spectacle. The costumes were shipped from United Kingdoms and the cleaning personnel given thorough training and equipped suitably. “Each chord from which the cleaning superheroes hang is designed to withstand a load of three tonnes,” said Ahmad Harake Operation Manager of Spider Style Tower Cleaning. But how did the men feel coming down from the 26-floor building swinging in the gusty 16 knots per hour wind lashing the cityscape? “It is like this every day. The only unusual thing is that we had costumes of superheroes,” said Babu Kaji one of the 15 superheroes who hails from Nepal.

“Our company is new here in Doha, around five months, and we’ve hired all these Nepalese climbers and trained them here,” said Ahmad Harake, operations manager and partner of the Spider Style Tower Cleaning Company. “We have only asked 15 climbers/cleaners to do the work today, but we have already employed around 40 in our company. Five are French and the rest are Nepalese,” said Harake. According to Philippe Bonnot, Movenpick general manager, the idea of having the window cleaners dress up in costumes was to brighten the guests’ day. “We all need our windows cleaned, so why not inject some fun into it as well? If we can brighten the guests’ day while going about our daily routine, then we are happy,” said Bonnot. According to Harake, their company is now in the middle of hiring female climbers from the Philippines who will be joining their company soon.
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Window cleaning & Firefighting Robot

Start-up firm to make cleaning high-rises easy: Doha, Qatar• When a window washer working on a building on Grand Hamad Street fell to his death in front of a would-be entrepreneur, it got him and his four business partners thinking. The end result is KlearGreen, a high-technology start-up formed to develop robotic facade and window cleaning systems for high-rise buildings. Doha's rising skyline meant an instant business idea. And lessons were learned from participating in Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar's Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programme. What the quintet plans to do is bring in machinery to do the job of window washing in tall buildings. The machinery can be used not only on buildings with glass facades but other surfaces as well. Moreover, the machinery can be programmed to wash every nook and cranny of a building's exterior by tailoring it to the contours of the building. It also eliminates the need for labour and the job is completed much faster. Buildings these days are no longer square blocks, with Bidda Towers and the Tornado Tower here being examples of the changes taking place in building design. Shams Hasan, one of the partners in the venture, told The Peninsula: "In our group, we have real estate expertise, Qatar expertise and technology expertise. We felt the window washing business had a serious need and we had to solve it. Our technology is different. Building physics change and mechanics become difficult." As one goes higher up a building, there is a 'sway' factor, for example. Workers are also unwilling to kiss the clouds as buildings rise higher and higher. Those who wash windows on high-rises are paid around three times as much as a regular worker and they have to be provided insurance, all of which adds to the costs of a company. It can take a crew of up to eight to work on a single building. Another partner, Sami Al Shammari, said: "With this device we can clean faster and more securely. It is also about speed, and a building can be washed more times." Under normal circumstances, it can take up to a month to finish washing a building. Hasan said: "We looked at it from a logical perspective and not as window cleaners. We feel this is the right place to get things moving and we have the right expertise." He said the group was hopeful of setting up an office at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP). KlearGreen would perhaps be an ideal tenant as it exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship and research which the QSTP is keen to promote. Best of all, it is a local enterprise. The new machines could also have uses in fighting fires. "You will have noted lately there have been several fires in the new high-rises. But how high could the fire department's ladders go? So, with the new machines, firefighting could conceivably be another option for their use," said Hasan. The machines will have three versions. The first will be human-operated, the second semi-automated and the third fully-automated. To have the machines built — KlearGreen is tying up with Telerobot of Italy — $600,000 will be required. Hasan and Al Shammari are confident KlearGreen will receive the funding needed.

"After Qatar, we may even look at places like Dubai and then the US and Europe," the partners said.