Executive Summary

Key Note estimated that the heavy industrial cleaning sector of the UK contract cleaning market was worth £250m in 1995. The market is relatively mature compared with other contract cleaning sectors and, with some exceptions, is estimated to have grown over recent years at, or around, the rate of the UK economy as a whole.

The sector encompasses a wide range of activities, from factory cleaning, the cleaning and scaling of boilers, and the cleaning of stoves, furnaces, incinerators, ventilation ducts and exhaust units to the fumigation of ships and other premises. It also includes stonework cleaning and the cleaning of new buildings after construction. Other tasks covered in this report include steam cleaning, sand blasting, and similar activities for building exteriors, the emptying and cleaning of cesspools and septic tanks, and the cleaning of drains, pipelines and cooling towers. The report also reviews supplying sectors, including the manufacture, supply and distribution of electrical equipment, soap and synthetic detergents, polishes, cleaning powders, abrasive products and other chemicals and industrial materials.

Among the strengths of the sector are the fact that it is decentralised and, therefore, able to provide a local focus and achieve a close relationship with clients. Also, the enduring requirement for vital cleaning services as part of the industrial process ensures their continuation even during recession. On the other hand, the sector suffers from an overdependence on the fate of a few underperforming industrial sectors, especially in the manufacturing and construction fields. Also, the sector includes many relatively small companies with insufficient resources to meet the need for adequate finance.

Along with the rest of British industry at the present time, the heavy industrial cleaning sector suffers from many uncertainties, including the impact of mergers and acquisitions activity and the possibility of a change of government. However, industry opinion appears to be that a new Labour Government would not represent a particular threat. Future growth is seen as likely to occur at much the same rate as the rate of growth in the UK economy as a whole. Nevertheless, some sectors making significant purchases of heavy industrial cleaning services, such as transport and the utilities, offer the prospect of growth at a rather higher rate.

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