10th March 2021
You may have seen the amazing work our Clean Team have done on social media or if you have been out and about in the City Centre. But have you ever wondered it is they get up to? We caught up with one of the guys who talked us through what their day looks like!
Q & A with Clean Team
Day starts at 6.30am
I take the van into the city centre with our equipment inside. I drive to the storage facility we have in the city centre which houses the gum remover and scrubber machine and get ready to go to first location. Belfast One provide a weekly schedule of issues which allows us to prepare for what areas we are working in. On today’s schedule (at the time of the chat) is the weekly disinfecting of all touch points in the City Centre plus a deep clean of Castle Lane including graffiti and gum removal and power washing of shop frontages to remove moss build up and any detritus. My colleague takes the disinfecting equipment which is a 20Litre Knapsack sprayer and begins the route through the Belfast One Streets disinfecting all touch points with special attention at traffic crossing points, seating areas and the areas around bus stops.
7am
I make a start at Castle Lane where the phone boxes have been heavily graffitied and badly stained plus there is some graffiti on the frontages of some retail premises. We use an environmentally friendly graffiti removal spray and cloths to ensure graffiti is removed in full. I take some ‘before’ photos which is a great reference for Belfast One to showcase the work that we do.
9am
Eimear, the Operations Manager from Belfast One calls down to see how we are getting on and to take some videos for their social media. There has been a business request for removal of graffiti from shutters by a business in Arthur Street, so I include this on my list for today. The restrictions are still in place in the city centre and so footfall in the city centre is lower than usual.
10.30am
I stop for a quick coffee break; I like to support local independent coffee shops so grab one from the nearby Downtools café.
10.50am
I start up the gum removal machine to address the issue of gum which has become a problem over the last few months with queues outside retail and hospitality we have found an increase in the gum levels found outside some of these premises. This involved using heat and steam to remove the gum and then wash the remnants away leaving a clean surface. It is labour intensive but gets great results.
12pm
I am nearing the end of the shift, so I complete all my ‘after’ photos to showcase the work that was completed and send through to Belfast One.
Swipe to see all of their hard work
