Brighton & Hove Albion may have finished the season in disappointing fashion having gone down 6-2 on aggregate to fellow Premier League almost-rans Derby County but, off the pitch, they enjoyed a tremendous season – at least as far as their ventilation was concerned.
System Hygienics is now in their third year, which sees it cleaning general toilet and kitchen extraction fans and carrying out fire damper testing at the 30,750 capacity American Express Community (AMEX) stadium in Brighton.
Mark Hooper, maintenance manager at Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club and the AMEX Stadium, said: “I’m very happy with the service we’re getting. There’s a lot of ventilation infrastructure there and they know how it all works; it’s actually the reason System Hygienics were awarded the contract.
“System Hygienics’ sister company, Hotchkiss, installed all of the AMEX Community Stadium’s ductwork. We were very happy with the job they did, and it was that good experience of working with Hotchkiss that made the choice an easy one. System Hygienics have not disappointed.”
Engineers locate and test, on a yearly basis, the fire dampers throughout the ground’s ventilation system to ensure they were within the fire containment areas and that they could be fully accessed for cleaning, testing and resetting to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the BS9999:2008 Annex W.1. During the fire damper testing System Hygienics assess the internal conditions of the ductwork as part of the overall hygiene assessment of the ventilation systems.
Brighton & Hove Albion were aware of System Hygienics, who is one of the UK’s leading hygiene specialists through Hotchkiss who carried out the installation of the stadium’s original ductwork.
The yearly maintenance work is carried out between June and August in the closed season to ensure minimal disruption to match days and the thousands of fans who pour into the stadium every weekend to watch the games. The AMEX does however run some great events and exhibitions throughout this time and during the rest of the year, and the greatest care is taken to ensure System Hygienics’ maintenance programme do not disturb any of these important events.
System Hygienics is looking forward to continuing their yearly contract for many years to come with Brighton & Hove Albion in 2015 and carrying on its good work at the AMEX stadium, with the possibility of including the club’s new state-of-the-art training ground.
The new training facilities opened in the summer and named the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre, come complete with a medical centre, pool and fitness centre and 15 pitches for the teams to practice on.
