CleanSafe Services has delivered a two-month package of flood recovery support for a further education college after two rivers burst their banks during severe winter flooding.
The FE college in Greater Manchester had to temporarily close one of its campuses after the flooding wiped out its IT service and knocked out its electricity supply.
CleanSafe Services was called in to provide an emergency flood recovery service, which included flood cleaning and building drying services, as the college put in place a disaster recovery plan to cope with the catastrophic incident.
Disaster management
The college’s main IT centre, classrooms and a large storage area, which included the main document storage room, were left under water by the flood, which hit the college over the Christmas break.
The college commissioned CleanSafe Services’ flood recovery teams to work alongside a disaster management consultancy and an insurance loss adjuster for nearly two months.
Elaine Curran, Business Development Manager for CleanSafe Services, said the college’s experience showed clearly benefit of commissioning an accredited flood recovery service. She added: “In places, water had reached over six feet up walls inside the college. It quickly subsided but there was still a foot of water in some places on December 27, when we first arrived.
“It was a scene of devastation, but we were able to recommend an immediate, practical flood recovery and clean-up plan, based on many years of experience dealing with other flooding emergencies.”
Immediate response
Within 12 hours, a team of six flood recovery operatives was deployed to the college campus by CleanSafe Services, which provides a national flood recovery and cleaning services from depots in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Livingstone, Scotland.
One of the main tasks was to document and clear many hundreds of items, including high value computer and printing equipment, that had been badly damaged by the flood water.
It took five weeks to complete the flood inventory. The CleanSafe team then worked with its sister company WasteSafe Services to remove flood-damaged items, which were taken to an authorised waste disposal site in eight 40 tonne skips. A substantial amount of the material was WEEE waste.
The CleanSafe flood recovery operatives also removed plaster from walls up to a height of one metre in many of the flood-affected rooms and corridors as part of the flood drying process, which went on for several weeks.
Building drying advice
After the initial emergency flood clean-up period, the college appointed a building contractor to manage the process of bringing the buildings back in to use in a way that met CDM guidelines.
CleanSafe Services was able to provide clear advice on the building drying process, so the contractor could plan the repair and refurbishment phase of the flood recovery process as quickly and effectively as possible.
Elaine Curran said: “Obtaining the right flood recovery service expertise and advice as quickly as possible after a flood disaster like this is absolutely vital. It gives all parties concerned confidence that the process will be completed safely, efficiently, quickly and cost-effectively.
“We were very pleased to be able to help. Our teams worked very hard and diligently to get the job done. Other cleaning contractors would be overwhelmed by the task. We have the procedures, equipment and expertise to take it in our stride.”
