Soft services is an umbrella term for building management services provided by the facilities team. These services include cleaning, general and recycling waste management, grounds maintenance, pest control, water machines, welcome matting, and feminine hygiene.
Please email the helpdesk or call 1234, option 2 if you need any of these services.
View all Close all
The cleaning and ancillary service is provided by the appointed cleaning contractors, Churchill, who look after both St George's main campus and halls of residence.
The team is responsible for servicing:
- teaching rooms and lecture theatres
- offices and meeting rooms
- public access areas (such as corridors, toilets and stairwells).
The weekend service provision is primarily for conferences and events bookings and periodic work.
Please liaise with the helpdesk regarding the services and standards you can expect and to view the term-time cleaning schedule for your building.
Outside of term time there will be periodic work scheduled by the Facilities department in conjunction with the departments.
For any cleaning issues, please email the helpdesk or call 1234 option 2.
Pest control is the procedure of minimising or removing a broad array of unwelcome insects and other pests from spaces engaged by people. Controlling pests usually involves using some kind of insecticide to avoid them from entering the space, and to destroy any pests that have already established a presence within the space.
Pest control is the relevance and sometimes monitoring of a range of chemicals used to destroy insects and rodents, usually in or near a house or business. It can also mean using bait or traps to free a home or area of smaller insects.
For any pest control issues, please email the helpdesk.
For urgent issues, please call the helpdesk on 1234 option 2.
What is considered general waste:
- Food waste (please use separate food waste compartment in bin station)
- Coffee Cups
- Hand towels and tissues
- Plastic film, crisp packets & wrappers
- Shredded paper
- Polystyrene & cling film
- Uncontaminated gloves
- Pipettes and pipette tips
- Weigh boats
- Centrifuge tubes
- Disposable flasks
Recycling and how to make the most of it!
The University is committed to, and investing in, recycling. A key aim of this is to ensure that our mixed recycling can be transformed into high quality products in the future. To enable this to happen it is really important to reduce contamination from items such food, plastic film and hand towels. By maintaining the quality of our recycling, we increase recycling rates and avoid contamination fees.
Please review what can and can’t be recycled below, some items on the banned materials list may come as a surprise! Check out the FAQs for further explanation.
What should go in mixed recycling
- All types of paper
- All types of cardboard
- Empty & cleaned food and drink cans
- Empty plastic bottles
- Empty & clean pots and tubs (no black plastic)
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to rinse my food & drink containers?
Yes. Items should be rinsed or wiped so they are free from food or grease, otherwise they will contaminate the rest of the recycling.
Why can’t tissues or hand towels be recycled?
These have water absorbent coatings which means they cannot be recycled.
Why can’t I recycle black plastic?
Black plastic currently contains pigment which cannot be recognised by the recycling optical sorter and therefore ends up as general waste.
Can you recycle all products with the “Green Dot” symbol?
No. The “Green Dot” is a symbol that signifies a financial contribution has been paid to a national packaging recovery scheme – it does not necessarily mean that the packaging is recyclable.
Why can’t disposable coffee cups be recycled?
Coffee cups are made up of paper and polyethylene film, which makes them difficult for traditional recycling facilities. Specialist facilities have been developed and we will look into recycling coffee cups in the future.
For any waste issues, please email the helpdesk (estates@sgul.ac.uk) or call the helpdesk on ext 1234, option 2.
Our cleaning contractor, Churchill, have a team who regularly cleans and resupplies the toilets across the campus. They will restock the soap dispensers as well as the paper hand towels and toilet rolls.
For any cleaning issues, please email the
helpdesk or call the helpdesk on 1234, option 2.
The buildings have their windows cleaned internally and externally twice a year. For any window cleaning issues, please email the helpdesk or call the helpdesk on 1234, option 2.
Grounds maintenance is carried out by the Trust and they are tasked with keeping the landscape around the campus healthy, clean, safe and attractive.
Using tools, supplies, knowledge, physical exertion and skills, a groundskeeper may plan or carry out annual plantings, periodic weeding and fertilizing, other gardening, lawn care, snow removal, driveway and path maintenance, shrub pruning, topiary, lighting, fencing, runoff drainage, and irrigation, and other jobs for protecting and improving the topsoil, plants, and garden accessories.
Groundskeepers may also deal with local animals (including birds, rodents, reptiles, insects, and domestic animals or pets), and create means to attract or repel them, as desired or necessary.
EMCOR are our maintenance contractor responsible for taking care of the reactive and planned maintenance of the site.
For any grounds maintenance issues, please email the helpdesk or call the helpdesk on 1234, option 2.