WASHCO have become the chosen laundry partner for Saffron Housing Trust, introducing high-performance, compact machines across their social housing sites on an all-inclusive rental basis.

Requirement:

Saffron Housing Trust are a housing association based in Norfolk. Prior to approaching WASHCO, they had been a long-standing client of Hughes and traditionally always purchased their equipment outright. However, having experienced their fair share of repairs and maintenance bills over the years, it became clear that a more economically viable solution was needed to support the organisation as it grew.

Many of the laundry rooms at their social housing sites have limited space, so any new machines needed to be compact, yet still able to deliver on capacity and reliability to enable them to meet demand. Some sites would also require electrical adaptations due to changes in power supplies.

Solution:

Saffron Housing Trust were looking to replace their existing machines as and when they reached the end of their operational life, which meant this was the perfect ongoing project for WASHCO’s Area Sales Manager, Peter Stevenson. Peter is based locally to many of the organisation’s sites, so he could be on hand for site visits to fully understand the individual requirements and challenges in each laundry room.

Outstanding performance with a small footprint

It was incredibly important that all of their laundries could keep up with high capacity demands from residents whilst also being compact enough to fit into the small rooms.

To ensure a perfect fit, floorplans and measurements are carefully drawn up and door widths are checked before a solution is recommended. At every site so far, Miele Professional’s Little Giants range of equipment has been recommended. The machines have a minimal footprint of just 1m², but can run large volumes of laundry and have the ability to be stacked. They also boast A+++ energy efficiency ratings and short cycle times.

Efficient installation

By conducting site surveys at each location, Peter has been able to identify what adaptations would need to be made to the machines and buildings to fit the electrical requirements of every laundry room. Plans are then drawn up for our engineers, ready for work to be completed prior to installation.

Whenever the new machines are ready to be installed, we call ahead to book a date and time in with each site to help avoid disruption and ensure the machines are safely accessible.

A comprehensive rental package

One of the biggest challenges for Saffron Housing Trust over the years has been repairing and maintaining their equipment, which is why WASHCO’s rental offering was of particular interest. Split into simple and affordable monthly payments that tie in with their tenancy contracts, each site gets new machines with servicing and maintenance included as standard, which consists of 7-day repair cover, parts, labour and gas safety checks – all for no extra cost.

The all-inclusive package means there’s no need to worry about unexpected bills, with WASHCO on hand to complete repairs swiftly if a machine were to break down.

Results:

So far, WASHCO have installed 50+ machines across 20+ sites to date, with each experiencing improvements in efficiency and reliability. The organisation benefits from national service on a local level, meaning they can be confident that their laundry facilities are in safe hands.

Abigail Smith, Wellbeing & Partnerships Assistant at Saffron Housing, said: “WASHCO have been brilliant in their support of our transition to machine rental across our social housing sites. The comprehensive package means we don’t have to worry about a thing, knowing that our laundry equipment is in safe hands should there ever be a problem. The level of service has been second to none and will undoubtedly improve our laundry operations going forward.”