Pizza Express: a two-day reopening clean

The challenge

When a Pizza Express restaurant comes out of refurbishment, the fit-out contractor hands over a space that looks finished but is not ready to serve food. Construction dust sits on every ledge, adhesive and paint marks cover the floors, and the kitchen and washrooms need sanitising to hospitality standards before a single cover can be sold. Ascent Onsite Group was appointed to close that gap, and to do it inside a two-day window fixed by the reopening date.

The reopening date was already booked, so the clean could not slip. The site had the usual pressures of a live hospitality unit coming back to trade: fine construction dust that settles again if the work is rushed, delicate new finishes that mark easily, and two areas that carry the highest hygiene risk in any restaurant, the kitchen and the washrooms. Everything had to be brought to a food-safe, customer-ready standard while other trades were still finishing snagging around the team.

Our approach

We deployed an experienced crew certified to Health, Hygiene and CSCS standards and worked the space top down so nothing settled twice. High-level dust was drawn off ledges, ductwork and light fittings using Space-Vac systems, which reach elevated surfaces without towers or scaffold. Floors were stripped of construction residue and polished, and new finishes were protected throughout using microfibre cloths and low-toxicity products rather than harsh chemicals that could damage them.

The kitchen was sanitised as a priority, with stainless steel, food preparation surfaces and equipment cleaned to a standard the restaurant could open on. Washrooms and the dining area were then brought up to the same finish. The team worked in full PPE under strict health and safety protocols, coordinating around the remaining trades so the two workstreams did not hold each other up.

The result

The restaurant was handed back spotless and ready for immediate reopening, on the second day as planned. Kitchen and washrooms met the hygiene standard front of house needed to trade, dust and construction debris were gone, and the new finishes came through the clean undamaged. Pizza Express reopened on schedule with no loss of trading days, and the outlet was ready to meet both client and customer expectations from the first cover served.