Cold, smelly cellar in Grade II listed pub is reinvigorated

---

 The Bell & Cross pub is an award-winning grade two listed pub in picturesque Worcestershire.  The building has been sympathetically renovated to retain its charm and history, but it kept a smelly secret – the cellar.

Most cellars are typically damp and cold but this one had a very unfortunate smell, one that occasionally penetrated the upstairs airspace and thus became an unacceptable inhabitant. Pub owner, Joe Tansley had tried everything to rid the smell from the cellar space; deep cleaning, chemical cleans, jet washing and constant air freshener.  None of which had worked and left Joe feeling frustrated and unsure what to try next. 

CorrMed was recommended to Joe, with the suggestion that their air purification system, AIRsteril  may be just the solution he needed.  We talked to Joe and discussed the options available to him.  We installed the AIRsteril MultiFlex as it is the best option for high odour areas.  Within a matter of hours Joe noticed that the smell was notably less and after just two days there was no smell at all.

Initially thinking this must be a coincidence and there is no way such a small and inconspicuous device could do so much in such a short space of time, the team waited for a real test . . .  some wet weather.

The AIRsteril unit did not let them down and after torrential storms over a weekend the cellar did not smell, not at all.

Joe says, “After meeting Katie, I was confident the product could work but was sceptical as to how much it would dissipate the smell. I have to say the product is incredible and I wouldn’t stop in recommending it to anyone. 3 years headache taken away!”

AIRsteril is a proactive air purification system, scientifically proven to:

• kill 99.9% of germs and viruses in the air and on surfaces
• reduce absenteeism in offices
• reduce cross-infection and cross-contamination
• eliminate odours, both naturally occurring, and chemical based
• control mould, fungi, and spores in the building
• prolong the life of carpets and furnishing through reduced cleaning needs.

If you are looking to improve air quality, reduce illnesses and the risk of viruses and germs, or eliminate odours, installing an AIRsteril is one of the most efficient ways to do it. 

  Pinfields Limited was created by a merger in 2003 of two long established, Midlands based, accountancy practices; H F Pinfield & Co and Foster and Company.

Pinfields Chartered Accountants have a reputation for providing high quality financial advice in an efficient and friendly manner.  As a small company (Pinfields employ around 30 staff) the workforce is an extremely important asset to the success of the firm.  Concerns were raised in the summer of 2019 when sickness levels increased by 44% with increased reports of headaches and sore throats.  Opening the windows is difficult for those with hayfever and air conditioning would cause some people to be overly cold. During the autumn / winter of 2019/20 the levels of sickness increased further.

The company implemented a tracking system for undescribed illness and found that the impact of the illness was costing the company thousands of pounds each week in lost productivity. Planned leave is managed in advance, but unannounced absence has significant knock-on effect for the business and meant they got behind in many key projects.

Pinfields Limited knew about AIRSteril, as they had been using it on the gentleman’s washrooms where they had an odour problem. The odour control had worked very well there, but with the COVID-19 pandemic, this brought a new challenge.

As a company committed to the welfare of their staff, they wanted to protect them from infection both from each other and from clients. The business was very quick to lock down sending all staff to work from home on March 17th, for which the team were very grateful. A return to work strategy was developed early on, with a combination of strategies to support them as a business including hand sanitizers, temperature gun, removing touch points and finally reducing paper. However, how to manage the infections in the air would need an air-based technology, and so Pinfields returned to discuss deploying AIRSteril throughout their business premises.

Coincidently whilst specifying the AIRSteril rollout into the offices, one of the Pinfields  team contracted COVID-19. This really brought it home to Pinfields how vulnerable they all are and how introducing air and surface sterilisation was an essential investment for the company to protect its staff and its future.

Nick Pinfield, Managing Partner at Pinfields Limited says “Pinfelds strives to invest in our team whether it be skills, mental health or physical health. Through implementing AIRSteril we were doing our bit to invest in our team’s health and wellbeing, and that of their families, as well as protecting the business from unnecessary absenteeism.”

Since the installation the team has commented on how much cleaner the air feels and what a great environment it is to work in.  Incidentally, reports of hayfever symptoms have also decreased due to the cleaner, filtered air.