Later this year we at Berkeley Cleaning Services Ltd (formerly known as Berkeley Office Cleaners) will be celebrating 50 years in business. The firm was started by George and Mary Ravenscroft (husband and wife) as a partnership in 1970. We commenced as a provider of office cleaning services for the commercial sector. Our first contract in Essex was an establishment in Ingatestone run by ‘Essex County Council’. When this was awarded to Berkeley Office Cleaners, it was decided by George and Mary to relocate their family to the village of Ingatestone. This was the home of George Ravenscroft right up until he sadly died in 1998. Mary still lives in Ingatestone be it in a different property.
So impressed were Essex County Council with how Berkeley Office Cleaners managed ‘Huskards’ in Ingatestone (a 7 day per week contract), that the daily office cleaning contract for the new ‘Rent Office’ that was about to open in Moulsham Street, Chelmsford was awarded to us.
Other contracts with Essex County Council followed including ‘Family Finders’ and the ‘Juvenile Justice Centre’. Over the years we have held many 3 year cleaning contracts with Government Departments including the ‘Department of Employment’ in Chelmsford, the ‘D.H.S.S’ and the ‘Ministry of Agriculture’ in Beeches Road, Chelmsford,‘HM Customs & Excise’ in Chelmsford and Colchester, ‘HM Inland Revenue’ in Colchester and Witham and the ‘Health & Safety Executive’ in Chelmsford.
We have also provided the daily cleaning services for many Banks along the years including ‘The Royal Bank of Scotland’ in Chelmsford and Colchester and Lloyds Bank in Chelmsford. Also a number of Building Societies many of which the names of are resigned to the history books including ‘National & Provincial Building Society’, ‘Leeds Permanent Building Society’, ‘Halifax’, ‘Britannia Building Society’, ‘Bradford & Bingley’, ‘The Woolwich’, ‘Cheshunt Building Society’ and ‘Bristol & West’.
The firm became a private limited company in 2004 and it was decided to change the name slightly from ‘Berkeley Office Cleaners’ to ‘Berkeley Cleaning Services’ as this describes the current business in a better way because along the way we branched out and started providing other cleaning services in addition to ‘Office & General Cleaning’. These include ‘Carpet Cleaning’ and ‘Floor Maintenance’.
These days the business is still family run by their son Adam Ravenscroft. Mary who is semi-retired is still a share holder and acts more in a consultant capacity to advise Adam should he need her vast wealth of experience, although he has much of his own because he became a Partner in the mid-late 80s when he decided to leave his job as a civil servant and join the family firm.
The first cleaning contract that we ever held in Essex – Huskards in Ingatestone for Essex County County Council
The second cleaning contract that we were awarded by Essex County Council formerly the Essex Rent Office at Moulsham House in Moulsham Street, Chelmsford. This is how the building looks in 2020.
