[Closed] Cycling to work - changing/drying facilites

Get them to invest in

http://www.geautomatic.co.uk/dryingcabinets/floorstanding/index.html

Happy staff are more productive.

Pffft count yourself lucky!

I've got a disabled loo to change, the drawers under my desk for storage and a hot desk behind me to hang my wet kit over!

Similar issue at my work.

We have an onsite gym with showering/changing facilities etc so that's not an issue, but like you, actually drying wet weather gear during the day is still a problem. There does seem to be a bit of a lack of joined up thinking there and I do hear lots of people moaning about this. Some hang things on radiators but of course that causes moaning from others nearby.

I think it depends on your company really, the one I work for is pretty obsessed with employee health and making people happy and to be fair they are pretty proactive so if people start saying they're going to stop cycling then I'm sure they will provide a drying room or something.

Personally I'm quite lucky because I have a sizeable (and seldom used) curing oven in our lab so I can hang everything in there at 60° for an hour or so and the job's done, but everyone else... not so lucky.

Every building on our site has at least two showers, more if the building design can accomodate it.
Every staff member has a locker, there are sufficent covered racks for 200 bikes & we have an on-site laundry with a 3 hr turn around time which is free for use by staff who cycle/run/walk to work.
Also while I'm gloating; a decent canteen, a staff bar and a gym - Public Sector Rocks 😀

qwerty - that drying cabinet thing looks brill... might suggest that my colleagues press for a few of those...

+1 public sector, work in a school - heated by a ****ing massive oil fired boiler, nice & toasty gear for the journey home. Also, the hosepipe is attached to the hot water!

We used to put ours behind the rack servers - those things gave off so much heat they could dry anything in about 20 minutes!

Now I'm lucky enough that we have proper changing rooms with showers, lockers and a dedicated drying room which is like a sauna.

We have one shared shower cubiucle with a utterly clear glass enclosure.

I imagine one of the cycling ladies complained about the big queue of men outside the shower waiting for her, as the company has cancelled the C2W scheme.

Changing facilities are good, but the radiators have been switched off for a few months now... No chance of anything drying.

we have a lot of cyclists at work, and though facilities are good (changing room, lockers, hot showers, secure parking etc) on a wet day there is not enough room to dry all the kit... until an enterprising member of staff offered to take all the wet kit to the local laundrette, wash and dry it and return it neatly folded for the end of the shift. He charges £1 per person per day, probably pockets about £5 for himself on a wet day and we get to ride home in toasty warm kit!

Sadly I've moved stations now so have to suffer wet kit again.

No drying facilities as such here at work, top gets hung in a window which sees the sun and drys quite well, shorts get hung too but dont dry so well.

I pack a complete set of dry kit and leave them at work, so if anything is not dry by the time I leave, just bag up the wet kit and take it home, then replace the dry kit I used at work the next day.

Has worked for the last 8 years for me.

Saying that, this year so far has been the worst by a mile for wet commuting!

doing alright for showers and bike storage here, the odd locker knocking about (not in my building tho) bugger all provision for drying, luckily I've got access to a warm unstaffed room 🙂

edit
[i]I pack a complete set of dry kit and leave them at work[/i]
ah ha something I'd not thought about, good shout, I should keep some old shoes at work too, even in a warm room sodden shoes won't dryout in time.

What are these showers, changing cubicles and drying facilities you speak of?

Nigh on 20 years of strip washes in't loos, and draping clothing on chair and under desk for me.

I do fortunately have the ability to avail myself of some HP badged drying racks though 😉

I hang wet gloves, hats, socks on the back of my LCD monitors - they dry nicely before home time....

Public Sector too - just moved from well appointed rented accomodation to accomodation provided by one of our private sector 'partners'. We have lost most of the good facilites we had.

Benn looking at the Workplace (Health Safety & Welfare Regs) 1992 (regs 23 & 24), but they seem to think they don't apply. We have a need to put PPE on for site visits so need somewhere to store, get changed and dry that in theory, but seem to happily forget that!

Our manglement responded to pressure and installed a shower for us to use. The shower was fitted and finished a year ago, unfortunately there has (or, more likely, has not) been wrangling with the cleaning contractor as to COSHH and responsibilities so nobody's been able to use it yet. Favoured view is to clean it ourselves (our cleaners are not known for their hygiene conscientiousness) but banging heads against walls at the moment. Yes our (upper middle and upwards) management are historically inept.

Also while I'm gloating; a decent canteen, a staff bar and a gym - Public Sector Rocks

I'll see your lockers and onsite Gym, and raise you a £3000 C2W limit, warm towels, a bike shop on site, free labour and servicing and paid £1 per day to spend in said shop. I'm just about to order my Rudy Project Rydons from this year's commuting 8) . Private Sector Rocks

Lockers aren't any use for drying clothes. We have limited hanging space, but there isn't an easy solution. An extra set of clothes carried in can help. Or keep some old cycling clothes at work only for when it rains.

djaustin: Gisajobgisajob

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djaustin - Member
I'll see your lockers and onsite Gym, and raise you a £3000 C2W limit, warm towels, a bike shop on site, free labour and servicing and paid £1 per day to spend in said shop. I'm just about to order my Rudy Project Rydons from this year's commuting . Private Sector Rocks

Lockers aren't any use for drying clothes. We have limited hanging space, but there isn't an easy solution. An extra set of clothes carried in can help. Or keep some old cycling clothes at work only for when it rains.

We don't have a bike shop onsite as such but we do have an equipped free bike workshop. The local Hargroves come in sometimes for a company paid for drop in session for people who can't/don't want to do their own maintenance.

£1k CTW here but they GIVE you £60 a year to spend on anything sports related plus match pound for pound anything you spend. Biking stuff is therefore effectively less than half price 😛

Feeling quite well looked after now!

local authority worker here...

we have a secure basement cycle store, lockers, a couple of showers and also a tumble dryer

personally i don't put my bike kit in the tumble dryer (although it is handy for towels) but no one complains about wet/smelly kit hanging up in the corner of the office and it's always dry by the end of the day.

i also keep my turbo trainer in the basement for the odd occasion when i can be bothered doing something healthy at lunchtime instead of being on STW and stuffing my face

djaustin - Member
I'll see your lockers and onsite Gym, and raise you a £3000 C2W limit, warm towels, a bike shop on site, free labour and servicing and paid £1 per day to spend in said shop. I'm just about to order my Rudy Project Rydons from this year's commuting . Private Sector Rocks
Lockers aren't any use for drying clothes. We have limited hanging space, but there isn't an easy solution. An extra set of clothes carried in can help. Or keep some old cycling clothes at work only for when it rains.

We don't have a bike shop onsite as such but we do have an equipped free bike workshop. The local Hargroves come in sometimes for a company paid for drop in session for people who can't/don't want to do their own maintenance.

£1k CTW here but they GIVE you £60 a year to spend on anything sports related plus match pound for pound anything you spend. Biking stuff is therefore effectively less than half price

Feeling quite well looked after now!

Where oh where do you pair work ! Sounds pretty awesome to work there if your a cyclist or sporty person.

Having ridden in a 'romper' suit in the last few days (very muddy in PdS area at the moment) why not get one of those. Then only a light weight item to dry!

1 x disabled loo
1 x wash kit (kept in my desk drawer)
1 x micro-fibre fast-drying towel

Bike is kept behind me, in the corner of the office (management are happy for it to be kept indoors out the way).

Wet kit is draped over the bike to dry.... not ideal, but it's the best I can do.

Office I used to work in, had 3 toilets, gents/ladies/disabled. But was on the second floor, of a building with some of the dodgiest steps ever (outside metal steps which I slipped about 10x in 1 year, though no-one ever broke anything thergo.. nothing changes).
So the unused disabled toilet became all the riders/runners drying closet. Was at least twice the size of the other toilets, had a damn across door to keep all water in (not wheelchair friendly!) and was sited above the boiler room so was always very warm (30C+) with good extractor fan on it.

All they have to do is nominate a closet with an external wall, put an industrial/vinyl floor in (few hundred £ for a few sqM room), a £50 extractor fan, and an oil filled heater radiator thing. And there you go, instant drying room, makes people happy, keeps the stink away from the office and you can boast about your 'amazing drying facilities' to new recruits etc.

My place doesn't have showers, nowhere to store/dry bike stuff and the security cameras don't cover the dilapidated bike shed. I drive to work.

Where oh where do you pair work

[url= http://www.cyclefriendlyemployers.org.uk/img/Conference_SK.pdf ]It's not all bad news...[/url]

I have to change in the Staff Toilets after a 10 mile ride to work

djaustin

I'd guessed GSK before you posted, when you said about the £1 a day to spend in Evans - you also get that if you m/c too. I worked there last year and it was great commuting in on a m/c and then been able to park it underground in the warm car-park 🙂

We have the use of a boiler room, and a request for a hanging rack in there was fulfilled quickly.

We've asked many times and have been told there is no space available for a separate drying area....despite the fact that there's a enormous empty sub basement below the basement car park 🙄

We have dedicated changing rooms for cyclists, 8 showers, plenty of lockers but no means of drying wet kit.

Public sector here - HMRC

Bike racks in front of main security desk - they do at least come over a tell you that your bike has been stolen.... 👿

Change in the loos - wet wipes work well....

No lockers

No radiators to dry stuff on...

No C2W.....

*goes off to Civil Service Job Site to look for a transfer*

I now work in an engineering works, place is a giant rabbit warren of small rooms, but you CAN make a loop out of it.... cue INDUSTRIAL VELODROME RACING!