Cleaning & FM industry honoured at 2024 Golden Service Awards

Eighteen coveted awards were presented at the cleaning industry’s most celebrated event – 2024 Kimberly-Clark Professional Golden Service Awards – on 23 May, at the London Hilton, Park Lane.

Created over 30 years ago, the biennial Golden Service Awards is today one of the most must-have and sought-after accolades in the FM and cleaning industry – proven by a 30 per cent increase in the number of entries this year.

The Golden Service Awards once again has provided the opportunity for FM companies, contract cleaners and in-house cleaning teams to showcase their outstanding excellence and commitment to deliver performances that continually raise standards and set new performance benchmarks.

The awards were presented to the worthy recipients by Craig Bowman, General Manager, UK & Ireland, Kimberly-Clark Professional and comedian, actor and writer Hugh Dennis.

The 2024 Kimberly-Clark Professional Golden Service Award winners are as follows:

Healthcare sponsored by Kärcher

• Winner: Derrycourt Cleaning Specialists

Education sponsored by SOAP2O

• Winner: Birkin Group

Office areas below 100,000 square metres

• Winner: Principle Cleaning Services Ltd

Office areas between 100,000 and 300,000 square metres

• Winner: Aramark

Office areas over 300,000 square metres sponsored by Facilities Management Journal

• Winner: JPC by Samsic with Chiswick Park Estate Management

Retail/Shopping Malls under 100,000 square metres

• Winner: JPC By Samsic

Retail/Shopping Malls over 100,000 square metres sponsored by Tomorrow’s Cleaning

• Winner: ABM UK&I

Leisure

• Winner: Principle Cleaning Services Ltd

Hospitality

• Winner: Derrycourt Cleaning Specialists

Manufacturing

• Winner: Derrycourt Cleaning Specialists

Sustainability Leadership sponsored by BCHS

• Winner: Key Enviro Solutions Limited

Social Impact sponsored by BioVate Hygienics

• Winner: Arcus FM

Inclusion & Diversity sponsored by ICCA

• Winner: ISS UK & Ireland

Training sponsored by BICSc

• Winner: Exclusive Services Group Limited

Small Business

• Winner: Right FM Ltd

Cleaning team of the Year sponsored by Cleaning Matters

• Winner: ABM UK&I

Bonus Category

Supervisor of the Year sponsored by ECOBreeze

• Winner: Marco Cavalcanti, Key Enviro Solutions Limited

Bonus Category

Cleaning Operative of the Year sponsored by Nationwide Hygiene Group

• Winner: Aleksandar Cmrlec, ABM UK&I

Over 500 professionals from small, medium and large contract cleaning and facilities management companies, plus in-house cleaning teams, as well as local authorities and hospitals, attended the landmark event this year.

Speaking about the awards, Bowman said: “Congratulations to all our outstanding and worthy winners and also to our well-deserved finalists in 2024.

“Once again, we have a year of unrivalled and outstanding standards from our industry peers here at the Golden Service Awards. We see more evidence of exceptional achievements despite the challenges of staff shortages, financial uncertainty and the continued post pandemic spotlight on hygiene and cleanliness. The high standards reached in our industry reflect our focus as a business and our values which we have evolved over the 150 years of Kimberly-Clark. We strive to keep people healthy, safe and sustainable through our work with customers and partners, because this industry makes a real difference to lives.  

“This event is about recognising the people and companies that make that difference and say thank you. We are, of course, very grateful to all our sponsors and contributors, especially our brand-new Gold Sponsor, Kärcher.  Our sincere thanks also go to the CSSA for their support with the communications  campaign.”

Kimberly-Clark Professional also welcomed Silver Sponsors: Bunzl Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies; Nationwide Hygiene Group and SOAP20; plus Bronze Sponsors: EcoBreeze and BioVate Hygienics.

Kimberly-Clark Professional again partnered with The British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) who oversaw the independent judging.

Neil Spencer Cook, Group Managing Director at BICSc commented: “The quality of the entries for this year’s Golden Service Awards was more extraordinary than ever before, with over 30 per cent more applications pushing the standards higher and higher. The strong focus on sustainability, teamwork and staff wellbeing was pleasing to see across many entries, with innovative approaches to daily hurdles and today’s business challenges.

“This year’s entries saw a stronger focus on valuing staff members, improving working conditions and taking care of their mental health. The passion from entrants really shines through their applications and we could see that many had gone to extra efforts to create winning entries. An increase in the diversity and inclusion category shows how ahead of the curve this industry is.

He continued: “The judges were very impressed with the site visits that demonstrated highly efficient and, in some cases, ‘pristine’ sites and the interviews with candidates for Supervisor and Cleaning Operative of the year demonstrated the inspirational enthusiasm for their jobs, their colleagues and their employers.

“Judging the Golden Service Awards 2024 has left us all buzzing, not least because of the new companies, different approaches and new talent that is emerging in our industry. Congratulations to all those who received a finalists’ nomination and the worthy winners on the day.”