Last Updated OCTOBER 2024
Is it time for high-traffic venues to redefine the washroom experience?
Washrooms in high traffic event spaces, such as stadiums and exhibition halls, need to be designed to allow large numbers of people to move through the facilities quickly. Providing clean, safe and efficient washroom facilities for every visitor, member of staff or participant all within a short period of time whilst an event is taking place is a real challenge.
With such huge footfall, the washroom experience is crucial, not only for customers expecting clean, safe and hygienic facilities, but for venue owners and operators too. Having a well-maintained, easy-to-use washroom ensures that large numbers of visitors can move through swiftly, returning to where they want to be more quickly, at the event, the bar or retail counter, or in the food court. And that’s good news for venue owners and operators. The longer visitors spend in washroom queues, the less time they spend using paid-for facilities.
If queues develop in washrooms, people can often spill outside of the facilities creating safety issues and congestion. And the poorer the washroom experience they receive, the less likely visitors are to stay and make use of your venue, or return in the future.
With large numbers of users in a busy washroom it’s important that hand towel, toilet tissue and skincare dispensers are chosen for reliability, durability and speed of use.
High-capacity dispenser systems for toilet tissue, hand towel and skincare ensure less refills and ensure a continuous supply. Electronic and touchless dispensing systems keep people moving quickly and easily through the washroom with minimal touchpoints. Dispensing consumables in a controlled way provides for a tidy and clean environment, encouraging users to leave the facility in the same good condition as they found it.
The Scott® ControlTM Mini Twin Centrefeed Toilet Tissue is ideal for busy washrooms as it is the highest capacity twin centrefeed toilet tissue system with 1,666 sheets per fully loaded dispenser. It’s never-run-out twin roll design means fewer refills are required, keeping the cubicle available for use.
The Kimberly-Clark ProfessionalTM ICONTM Hand Towel System, featuring a replacement-roll facility , is a reliable dispensing system that needs as little attention as possible to ensure that visitors are provided with the highest level of service while they move quickly through the washroom.
The Scott®Rolled Hand Towel for the ICONTM system is the longest hand towel roll available providing 380 metres of paper towel per roll. With the replacement-roll feature cleaning teams can load a new roll while the old roll is still in use, meaning that changeover times and re-visits are kept to a minimum
With large volumes of visitors and limited servicing time between, odour control is also essential in a high traffic washroom. The Kleenex® Botanics Aircare range provides a long-lasting, fresh washroom experience for busy washrooms.
It’s essential that hands are fully dried to be hygienic and when queues develop at air dryers this can encourage short-cuts on the time taken to properly dry hands. So, paper towels are the ideal option. Just two paper towels provide an efficient and hygienic hand dry, allowing users to leave the washroom with completely dry hands. It’s possible for users to move away from the dispenser, unlike an air dryer, and walk towards a waste bin while continuing to dry with a paper hand towel which further helps the flow of traffic through a washroom without creating logjams.
In high-traffic venues, costs and waste are key considerations. Changing to an automated touchless dispenser with controlled single-sheet dispensing can cut the amount of hand towels used by each visitor, providing efficient and quick hand drying while minimising waste.
Electronic skincare dispensing can also make handwashing more efficient. In particular, foam soap allows for twice as many washes per litre as conventional liquid soaps and helps prevent spills on floor surfaces. The Scott® ControlTM Foam Soap provides 2,500 shots per cartridge and rinses quicker than a liquid hand wash, saving time and conserving water.
With staffing challenges in the FM sector, the easy and infrequent servicing of washroom systems is essential. The Kimberly-Clark ProfessionalTM ICONTM rolled hand towel dispenser requires three times less servicing than the leading competitor’s standard folded hand towel dispenser .1 A single set of batteries can last for more than 150,000 hand towel dispenses, and sophisticated dampened hinges make changeouts effortless, with smooth, one-handed operation. And LED indicator lights communicate when a unit needs attention, minimising touchpoints and unnecessary servicing checks.
With dual sensor technology that recognises partially torn sheets and presents a new sheet before dispenser issues occur, the Kimberly-Clark ProfessionalTM ICONTM hand towel dispenser provides reliable and hygienic hand drying by precisely dispensing the amount of paper towels desired .
Public venues, in particular, have a real challenge in maintaining high-traffic washrooms. The design and management of washrooms are paramount to visitor satisfaction and operational efficiency. And by embracing technology, facilities managers can optimise flow, hygiene and resource use, reinforcing the pivotal role of well-equipped washrooms in elevating the overall event experience.
1. Hall Test conducted by Sapio Research Agency in July 2021 - Based on hand dries per full dispenser.