Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is the unitary authority responsible for governing the historic south coast city and providing services to almost 200,000 people.

Ocean first entered into partnership with Portsmouth City Council in 1998 when we were awarded the contract to clean and maintain 32 of their public conveniences, including toilets, disabled toilets and baby changing facilities. In 2007 the scope of work was expanded to include the provision of hygiene bins.

Ocean successfully met all these requirements, working with the council to implement ways to make their own services more effective and reducing costs. One example of this is Ocean’s revamping of the council’s water management system which reduced costs from £20,000 in 2003 to £8,000 in 2005 and £4,000 in 2008. Overall water usage was reduced by 10% during the first two years of the contract and electricity consumption was reduced by 4%.

The initial contract ran until 2003 when it was re-awarded to Ocean for a further five years. In 2008 it was opened to bids to provide service until 2013. A council report at the time stated Ocean had been awarded the initial contract “in no small part due to their willingness to work with the council in continued improvement in the service provision.

“The most significant aspect of the contractor’s performance has been their ability to adapt to the requirements of an evolving service.”

This high standard of service resulted in Ocean being re-awarded the contract.