Sustainability

Passionate about people, sustainability and innovation

Being conscious of our impact on the environment and our local community isn’t new for us. From our head office to our supply chain partners and everything in between, our decisions have always included the consideration of our environmental footprint and social impact through the adoption of Circular Economy principles.

With ISO14001 (environmental management) and ISO50001 (energy management) accreditations in place, our approach to continuous improvement includes our dedication to all aspects of sustainability.

Our Journey to Net Zero

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Other initiatives include:

Chemical-free cleaning processes

“Closed loop” consumable products

Uniforms from regenerated organic material and ethically sourced

Energy and water saving technologies

In our head office, we have significantly reduced paper usage, implemented best practice recycling processes and reduced overall energy consumption.

We partner with clients to help them achieve their sustainability goals.

And with our supply partners, we ensure that they share our passion and drive to make sound environmental decisions in all aspects of their own business. We work with partners to understand the best options to result in the highest quality solutions with the lowest environmental impact. As with all Principle best practices, our supply chain and partners are audited regularly.

Since 2005, Principle has chosen a local charity to support and work with. For the past 2 years, we have partnered with Richard House, the first children’s hospice to be established in London and now supports over 300 families.

As well as supporting fundraising initiatives and providing financial assistance, Principle facilitates volunteer days for team members.

And our environmental and community programs often intersect: we regularly partner with the Hubbub Foundation, a cutting edge charity creating environmental campaigns featuring the transformation of waste into art.

“Paperless” sites

In keeping with our environmental objectives, we are rolling out paperless contracts across our portfolio, providing all information to the site cleaning teams and client teams in electronic form.

All information relating to the cleaning team and their activities are made available to staff through a tablet which is kept on site. This includes all relevant health and safety information (risk assessments, method statements, COSHH data and assessments etc.), company policies and procedures and all other information as required. Through our use of DocuSign, staff can sign off documents on the tablet therefore meeting statutory requirements. All information is controlled through our Google-based information management system which uses a range of cloud-based apps ensuring that all documents are updated in accordance with reviews which are performed on at least an annual basis.

Crown Estates Waste Scheme

Principle Cleaning Services (Principle) has worked in partnership with BNP Paribas Real Estate (BNPPRE) from April 2018 to February 2020 prior to handover to JLL.

During our tenure with BNP Paribas we established an award winning waste operation in partnership with BPR. Our approach focuses on occupier engagement to increase recycling levels in line with the Crowns environmental targets for the future.

Principle and its partners’ – BNPPRE and BPR Paper Round (BPR), Principle’s recycling provider, mission was to improve recycling rates across the St James’s portfolio through a unique waste management scheme, which aims to send zero waste to landfill and process waste from a range of different waste streams in as an effective and environmentally-friendly way possible.

This includes removing waste bags from streets to improve the image of the area, reducing vehicle numbers and emissions, consolidation of waste, improving services to customers by offering competitive pricing and free recycling advice, and accurate reporting via a live portal.

Principle and BNPPRE’s aim was to increase the recycling rate across the portfolio. The partners worked effortlessly together to create a waste scheme for all occupiers – achieving the highest level of service for waste collections, whilst encouraging recycling but importantly, providing an agile service for the end users that can flex with demand.

In November 2019, Principle Cleaning Services and BNP Paribas won the Partners in Corporate Award at the 2019 PFM Partnership Awards.