Inspired Business

Marc Whitbread, 23, of Church Crookham, has been nominated as Young Business Person of the Year in the Inspire Business Awards 2015.

Inspire Business Awards 2015: Whitbread's Window Cleaning looks to scoop Young Business Person prize - The company Marc Whitbread founded as a teenager has seen him nominated for Young Business Person of the Year.

He was just 17 when he launched his window cleaning company which today boasts more than 700 clients, and now Church Crookham entrepreneur Marc Whitbread has been nominated for an Inspire Business award .

Marc employs two full-time staff at his firm, Whitbread’s Window Cleaning, operating across Aldershot, Camberley, Farnham, Farnborough, Fleet, Hook, Sandhurst, Yateley and other areas on the Hampshire-Surrey border.

The ambitious 23-year-had originally wanted to become a chef and had started training in kitchens. “I was fed up with the low pay and working with people, so looked into businesses I could set up,” he recalled. “When I was 12 I saw a guy with a water-fed pole system, which lets you clean windows from the ground, and it just stuck with me. “I started looking into start-up costs and did some market research, and thought it had good potential.”

The company now has 720 regular clients, and Mr Whitbread hopes to take on more staff every year – the next intake in the spring. He has just bought a third van which will be ready to use in November.

Marc says the secret is the combination of having the right attitude and filling a gap in the market. “There’s been a demand but I have always been very determined and put in the hours,” he added. “A lot of people are just comfortable standing still, but for what? “I want to grow a business not just be a window cleaner.”

When asked what he makes of being nominated for Young Business Person of the Year, he said: “I’m really pleased. I didn’t know how popular the awards were, but I was really pleased to find out that I had been shortlisted.”

Living Wage - A Fair Days Pay

Mayor Steve Bullock and Councillors at Cam Specialist Support Services with Matt Johnson (far left) the Managing Director and apprentices.

Incentive for living wage: Lewisham council has honoured a Living Wage employer as it unveiled proposals to slash business rates up to £5,000 to encourage other firms to follow their example. Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, presented Matt Johnson and Sean Canty, joint owners of CAM Specialist Support, with a certificate in recognition of the company’s commitment to paying their employees a fair wage.

The cleaning company at Malham Industrial Estate in Forest Hill, received its Living Wage accreditation in August. It was founded by Matt Johnson, who started out as a window cleaner, 25-years ago and now has a £3million turnover. Mr Johnson said: “The cleaning industry offers tremendous opportunities to the right people. I myself started off as a window cleaner and now run my own diverse company.

However, we need to make the industry more attractive to quality applicants so that our profession gains the credibility it deserves. The first stage on that journey is to ensure we pay a wage that people can actually live on.”

Lewisham’s Mayor and Cabinet meeting today, is due to consider proposals to give companies a business rate discount if they get accredited with the Living Wage Foundation. The wage level, which is to be £9.40 an hour in London from next April, is the amount calculated independently by the Living Wage Foundation. This is more than £2 higher than the national living wage announced by George Osborne in the budget. 

The council says Lewisham faces higher than average levels of in-work poverty with one in four jobs in the borough paying below the living wage. Sir Steve said: “We were proud to be the first Living Wage council in the country. But we want to do more to encourage and support our partners and local businesses to pay the Living Wage too. A fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay.”

Commenting on the award, Johnson said: “We pay the Living Wage, because we believe it is the right thing to do morally. I want everyone who works here to be able to feed and clothe their families and not be worrying about in-work poverty. As well as the moral benefits, we’ve found there are commercial returns as staff are more loyal and flexible when they are being treated with respect, reducing recruitment time and costs. 

Paying the Living Wage also means people are less likely to take shortcuts while working and we have an excellent safety record as a result. “We hope more businesses will realise the benefits of paying the Living Wage to their staff and contractors so that everyone receives a fairer deal.”

Latest Window Cleaning Magazine

Winter is coming - the latest edition from the Window Cleaning Page.

WCP Magazine: Window Cleaning Page (WCP): Mark Munro from Dorset brings us the latest window cleaning news. Go to this link to read or download the magazine. You can also find the "window cleaning page" on facebook here. This latest edition includes a must read of everything you should know about running your waterfed pole system in Winter. Also included:

• Winter is coming - How will this affect your waterfed system?
• Aquaeous - Light trolley systems
• Wagtail win big at the Ausclean awards
• The new Power Reel
• Win Unger gloves!
• + more!

Photographers & Window Washers, A Love Story

Window washers descend the 36-story Centennial Tower downtown skyscraper on Dec. 4, 2013, in Atlanta.

Photo Gallery: Photographers and window washers, a love story: Seemingly since the inception of photography, photographers have had a universal infatuation with window washers. From the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics to a children's hospital in Brazil and many settings in between, photographers have been there to capture these unsung heroes. This collection of photos from The Associated Press shows window washers from across the world dating to 2013, though the photographic tradition surely started much earlier.

Water freezes to a store window before a washer can clear it on Jan. 8 in Hudson, New York. Scores of school districts across upstate New York delayed the start of school by two hours as arctic conditions grip the region with subzero temperatures and dangerous wind chills.

High rise window washers wearing Superman and Captain America costumes work at the Sabara Children's Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Oct. 11, 2013. The hospital had its regular window washers dress up in super hero costumes to commemorate Children's Day, celebrated in Brazil on Oct. 12, to entertain young patients who can see the men from their hospital rooms.

In this Oct. 6 photo, window washers use cables to lower themselves from a skyscraper while working on a polluted day in Beijing. Air quality readings in the city were at levels considered hazardous by international measuring standards.

A window washer dressed as Spider Man waves at Landon Fox, 5, of Birmingham, Alabama. Landon was a patient at the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children on Oct. 7.

Window washers clean the glass exterior of the Bolshoy Ice Dome, the hockey venue of the 2014 Winter Olympics, on Feb. 6, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Gold Coast Window Cleaner Falls 20m To Death

Police and emergency services at the scene of this morning’s tragedy.

Gold Coast Convention Centre window cleaner falls 20m to death (Australia): A man who plunged 20m to his death at the Gold Coast Convention Centre today has been revealed as an experienced abseiler from overseas, who was wearing safety gear when he fell.

Police say the man, 29, fell from the roof cavity of the main convention hall about 9.50am while performing maintenance work. “He was kitted up in full abseiling gear and he’s fallen approximately 20m,’’ Gold Coast police Senior Sergeant Angelique Maloney said. “He had safety harnesses and full abseiling gear.’’

Sen-Sgt Maloney said a Department of Workplace Health and Safety investigation was under way to determine how the man fell, with a specialist photographer called in to photograph the roof area. She said the man was an experienced abseiler worked for a Gold Coast industrial abseiling company. She said his family was being contacted through an overseas consulate.

Several co-workers with him when he fell were in shock and undergoing counselling, she said. It was the second workplace death on the Gold Coast this morning, following a fatal explosion at a Yatala oil-reclaiming factory. And it comes two weeks after two window cleaners miraculously survived a 12-storey plunge from a Sydney high-rise when the cable supporting their metal cage snapped.

Aerial view of the Gold Coast Convention Centre upon its completion in 2004.

Man Has Face 'Ripped Off' By A Sofa

A witness said: "There were people cleaning the windows. A security guard at the hotel said they had put the sofa into the cradle, which was big enough for three men and it fell out."

Man's face 'ripped off' by sofa falling from luxury London hotel penthouse: A man reportedly had his 'face ripped off' in a horrifying incident that saw a sofa fall from a luxury London hotel penthouse. The man was walking past the W Hotel in Leicester Square when the sofa fell from scaffolding on one of the £9,533-a-month penthouses on the ninth floor. It is now believed the sofa had been put on a window cleaning cradle before it fell.

According to the Mirror, a witness said: "There were people cleaning the windows. A security guard at the hotel said they had put the sofa into the cradle, which was big enough for three men and it fell out." The witness added: "[The man] looked like his face had been ripped off." The victim was taken to hospital with a serious head injury, and is believed to be in a critical but stable condition.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police were called at 8.54am on Friday 30 October to reports of a pedestrian injured in Wardour Street W1. "At this early stage it is believed he was injured by a piece of furniture which fell from scaffolding. "The man aged in his 20s taken to an east London hospital by London's Air Ambulance. His condition is critical but stable."

A spokeswoman for Starwood Hotels, the parent group of W Hotels, said: "We are aware of an incident at the Swiss Centre which also houses W London Leicester Square. "The exact circumstances of this accident are still being investigated. "Our thoughts and prayers go to the gentleman concerned, who is being treated in hospital for his injuries." The spokesman said: "The man, aged in his twenties, was taken to an east London hospital by London's Air Ambulance "His condition is critical but stable. "The Health and Safety Executive has been informed."

The newspaper quoted one witness as saying: "[The man] looked like his face had been ripped off. "It was raining and where the drops were hitting his face it was making him scream in agony."

More Windows With No Maintenance Plan

More Windows With No Maintenance Plan

Pop-Out Windows Would Be a Terrifying Way to Add More Sun and Space to Your Apartment: These window options would fold out into niches and add sun seat to any small apartment. Architect and industrial designer Aldana Ferrer Garcia has created three pop-out window concepts in her More Sky line that provide an extra seat in any room. As an added bonus, popping a squat in your window sill will let you soak up some vitamin D in an otherwise sun-deprived apartment, at least if you're not afraid of heights.

The "hopper niche

The first design, called the "hopper niche," folds out of a window frame like an accordion, allowing the occupant to recline against the glass. Perfect for kicking back with a good book, this window-seat provides an extra recliner where one might not otherwise be possible. As long as you trust your well-being to the strength of the install. 

The "casement niche"

The "casement niche" is a simpler design, rotating out to provide a little spot for someone to sit in the window sill. It does take up a little space when rotated into the closed position though, and you have to cross your legs to fit inside at all.

The "awning niche"

The third design, the "awning niche" folds out for a wide base to lean on rather than sit. You can easily watch all the action below your apartment without leaning outside into the erratic weather and open air.

Aldana Ferrer Garcia's window module offers 'more sky' to city dwellers. Creative initiatives presented at the inaugural Dubai design week.

Aldana - off her rocker.

Of course, if you live in an apartment high off the street below, you have to wonder what exactly these nook windows are made of. Leaning your full weight onto a window pane is a whole different experience from a death-defying 15 stories off the ground. And speaking for all the window washers out there, these things look like a real pain to keep sparkly clean. All that, and they're just a concept, so no one is actually making these things. But while they're only an idea, and potentially a flawed one at that, they'd be  easily the best way to put a thrill-ride right in your apartment.