The Institute

An independent body for an unwritten discipline.

The Cleanability Institute exists to formalise, measure, teach and propagate the science of cleanability across the built environment — and to defend the dignity of the people who maintain it.

Mission

To make cleanability a measurable, teachable, fundable discipline.

We exist to advance cleanability science, develop globally credible standards, train a new generation of professionals, and ensure the built environment is designed for the decades after the photograph is taken.

Our work spans research, publication, accreditation, standards, intelligence platforms, and institutional partnerships across more than thirty countries.

Founder
Founder

Fuseini Dawuda

Facilities management theorist · Author · Operational systems thinker

Fuseini Dawuda is the founder of the Cleanability Institute and the creator of the Cleanability Index. He has spent two decades inside the operational realities of buildings — wards, terminals, factories, plazas, classrooms — and the boardrooms that govern them.

His work argues that maintenance is not the residue of architecture but its unwritten companion. He is the author of Conceptualizing Cleanability, Mastering Soft FM, The Mop and the Meaning, and The Whisper of Brooms.

He advocates for invisible labour and humane infrastructure as foundational concerns in every modern building brief.

Values

Six commitments that shape every project.

Systems thinking

Cleanability is upstream of operations. We work at the level of structure, material, and decision.

Scientific rigour

Evidence-led research, peer review, reproducibility. No anecdotes dressed as standards.

Sustainability

Chemicals, water, embodied carbon and biodiversity are first-class cleanability variables.

Human dignity

The people who clean civilisation deserve a discipline that takes them seriously.

Open scholarship

Research belongs in the world. Publications are open where possible, citable always.

Practitioner clarity

Theory must reach the people specifying, building, and operating the spaces in question.

Timeline

From a quiet idea to a global discipline.

  1. 2018
    Fuseini Dawuda articulates the Cleanability Index in early operational papers.
  2. 2021
    Publication of The Whisper of Brooms; cleanability begins as a public conversation.
  3. 2022
    The Mop and the Meaning establishes the dignity argument in operational thought.
  4. 2023
    Mastering Soft FM systematises practice across emerging cleanability cohorts.
  5. 2024
    The Cleanability Institute is formally constituted as an independent body.
  6. 2025
    Healthcare Cleanability Standards v2.0; CleanabilityIQ enters institutional pilots.
Leadership & advisory

A board being assembled across disciplines.

We are convening senior architects, hospital epidemiologists, FM directors, materials scientists, and ethicists. Advisory positions are being announced through 2025–26.

Advisor
Architecture
To be announced
Advisor
Healthcare
To be announced
Advisor
Manufacturing
To be announced
Advisor
Public sector
To be announced
Advisor
AI & data
To be announced
Advisor
Standards
To be announced
Advisor
Materials
To be announced
Advisor
Ethics
To be announced

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