Winchester College, the esteemed boys’ secondary school, has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England. It is also the oldest of the original nine English public schools defined by the Public Schools Act 1868 and is one of four remaining full boarding independent schools (which means that all pupils are boarders) in the United Kingdom.

When the school’s facilities management team was in the market for a new machine in 2010, they approached Miele Professional Partner WASHCO to review the school’s laundry site. WASHCO recommended five machines (a mix of the PW 6241 and PW 6137 models). James Holmes of WASHCO comments “The school was in need of machines that could deal with immense amounts of laundry. After all, the school has to clean the laundry of nearly 700 live-in students who all play sports on a daily basis! We were able to help them by fitting five machines and set specific programmes for the school’s different needs.”

The school’s water tanks are very small; therefore energy efficiency was key for the school’s facilities managers. Miele Professional’s ‘peak load system’ was a perfect fit for the school – it means that machines do not demand power all at once, but balance each other out to ensure a constant flow.

Mark Thistlewhite, Facilities Manager at Winchester College commented: “Miele Professional is all about quality – which is perfect for us. The whole process was really efficient from start to finish, and WASHCO was always available to answer any questions we had. Each member of the team that has worked on site has been knowledgeable in the field that they work in. Installation was completed on time and the building was left in a clean and tidy manner.”

“The machines have given us more capacity and flexibility – there are several different programmes available. Using Miele machines also saves electricity and water, and we are expecting a reduction in our bills in due course.”

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