Irelands Tallest Skyscraper Gets A Clean

The Obel Tower is Irelands tallest building and is quite a challenge for the window cleaners.

Ballymena firm hires special team for skyscraper windows operation: A Ballymena cleaning firm has had to hire a special abseiling team to ensure that thousands of windows on Ireland’s tallest skyscraper are sparkling clean. Central Cleaning Site and Maintenance Ltd. has the contract to clean the windows on the 28 storey Obel Tower in Belfast and have called in specialists from Scotland, who perform work at heights that would make even Spiderman dizzy. The company has brought in Industrial Rope Access Trade Association-trained cleaners and thankfully vertigo isn’t an option for these brave cleaners, as the building stands at almost 300ft tall. Cleaning his fair share of the tower’s 4,565 window panels is dare devil cleaner Lee Green.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph he said: “You can’t think much when you are going over the edge- you just have to do it. You just make sure and check that the equipment is all in order and then go over. “The views are amazing, but you are pretty exposed at times and if the wind is high it can blow you across several floors of the building, which is pretty scary. But that’s all part of the experience. “You really have to have faith in the equipment. It’s pure agony hanging in a harness for hours. But we rub Olbas oil onto our thighs at night and that seems to soothe the aching muscles a bit.”

There are almost 200 residential apartments and London law firm Allen & Overy rents out all the office space at the tower which was completed in 2008. The windows are cleaned every three to six months and is a painstaking process that requires the highest skill and attention.  Mr. Green added: “Every time that we do a drop from the top to the bottom it takes about an hour and 40 minutes. It takes about 40 drops to do the whole building and we do about six drops a day. “We wear woolly hats underneath our helmets, gloves and thermals because it does get quite cold when you are hanging around all day. “But next time we’re here it will be summer, so hopefully we’ll get a bit of sunshine.”

Costing £60 million and measuring 85 metres (279 ft) in height, the tower dominates the Belfast skyline. On completion it overtook the previous tallest skyscraper in Ireland, Windsor House (80 m), also in Belfast. Developed by the Karl Group, the Obel Tower is located on Donegall Quay on the River Lagan beside the Lagan Weir.