SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL
INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL MAINTENANCE SPECIFICATION
FOR THE CITY CENTRE
(Incorporating: Street Cleaning, Litter Picking, Litter Bin Management,
Road and Channel Sweeping, Gully Cleaning, Street Furniture Cleaning)
Introduction
Sheffield City Council is currently changing its management approach to the City Centre,
in that it is viewed as a strategic corporate asset, and managed as such. Amongst other
initiatives, a holistic approach to cleanliness of the City Centre is seen as an important
aspect of the changes. The City Council would welcome the views of potential service
providers on how the service can be improved along the lines of this specification, and
how multi-skilling and multi-tasking of its employees, together with the correct application
of materials and equipment employed can deliver best value in terms of output.
Defined Area
For the purposes of Environmental Maintenance, the City Centre as identified by the inner
ring road, will be coded into three areas, which is intended to cover:
1. Outer City Centre
2. Inner City Centre
3. Retail Spine
Specification
The following specification is intended to be used in addition to the Integrated Waste
Management Contract especially the output specification for Street Cleaning Part 6,
Section 1 and 2. The exception to this shall be the specification for Landscape Services
Part 7, which is to be excluded, and the service provided by a specialist horticultural team
in the city centre.
The term ‘Integrated Environmental Maintenance is intended to promote the removal of
demarcation between soft and hard landscaped areas within the defined areas of the City
Centre, i.e. litter is litter, wherever it is deposited.
For the purpose of this specification, the definition of litter is all encompassing; all
materials fallen, dropped or placed on surfaces, in features or paved pedestrian areas or
roadways, in shrub beds, planted areas or lawns. Materials may include paper, cardboard,
cans, bottles, broken glass, sharps, foodstuffs, smoking-related litter, leaves and any other
waste materials or arisings including bodily fluids and animal faeces.
The desired outcomes are:
1. The defined area will be free from litter and other debris or arisings at all times, as
stated in 'standards', and include all street furniture and architectural/design features.
2. All litter bins will never be more than two thirds full throughout the day (7.00 a.m. to
6.00 p.m.).
3. Any graffiti, fly-posting, stickers or other defacing will be removed from any City
Council owned or leased surface or feature within 24 hours of being discovered,
followed by replacement of appropriate sacrificial coatings where applicable. Any
offensive graffiti will be removed or concealed within one hour of notification.
4. All chewing gum deposits and other spillage’s and stains will be removed from all
surfaces on a daily basis or as discovered, reducing the dependency for major periodic
removal works.
5. Gullies, grates on drainage channels will be free from blockages and other debris at all
times.
6. Street furniture including bins, seating, lighting columns, handrails, railings etc. will be
clean, free from debris, stains and other arising and will at all times be fit for its
purpose and use.
Standards
The cleanliness standards for each area of the City Centre as defined by the DETR code
of practice on litter and refuse (1999 3rd impression) will be:
1 - Outer City Centre - Zone 2
2 - Inner City Centre - Zone 1
3 - Retail Spine - Zone 1.
The normal cleanliness standards after cleaning in each area will be grade A (including
grassed and planted areas). The recovery time-scales for both the outer and inner City
Centre will be in line with the DETR code of practice. The priority area of the retail spine,
however, will have a recovery time-scale in any situation back to Grade A within one hour.
The contractor shall institute and maintain a documented quality performance monitoring
system based on the above standards. This shall include performance levels achieved and
be open to inspection at any time.
Hours of Service
Sheffield is rapidly becoming a 24-hour City Centre and as such there will need to be
recognition of this in the hours that the services are provided. With the programming of
events in the City Centre becoming more prevalent it is a potential that some service could
be required into late evening. Recognition of this needs to be reflected in the normal
operating hours of the service provided between 0600 hours to 2300 hours and particular
responsive cleaning on peak 'night club' evenings between 0500 and 0700. However,
within this, the principal core activity will be 0600 hours to 1800 hours.
The priority retail spine will reach Grade A/B standard by 0730 hours each day and the
remainder of the City Centre by 0830.