STREET CLEANING & GRAFFITI REMOVAL Mac On The Streets
With more than a decade of experience, P Mac is fast becoming the go-to street cleaning company in Dublin. They tell us a bit more about their work with Dublin City Council and how they’re helping to keep the capital clean.
The P Mac brand is a common sight on the streets of Dublin today. P Mac have been instrumental in improving the cleanliness of Dublin City Streets for over a decade now, and their aim is to ensure a cleaner, safer and more attractive environment in the city centre where people feel safe, valued and proud.
P Mac’s expertise originated in stone cleaning and maintenance, and since its inception in 1999 they have gained extensive knowledge and developed techniques to help clean, revive, maintain and protect the colour, tone and natural beauty of stone. As a registered Heritage Contractor, they combine the best of traditional craftsmanship with modern techniques and materials to accomplish an excellent finish, as well as the best possible protection for the future.
This expertise was instrumental in P Mac winning the first ever gum removal contract for Dublin City Council in 2004 and they are proud to say they have retained this contract since. The problem of discarded gum is a major headache for city bosses and counts for 30% of street litter, the highest percentage of litter after cigarette butts, which account for 50%.
P Mac employ the use of low pressure, high temperature steam to remove gum and have built custom made gum removal vans to fulfil this contract. No acids or chemicals are required, so it is therefore the most environmentally friendly and effective way to remove gum and its oily residues. This method causes no damage whatsoever to any type of stone surface or streetscape. As it ensures no splash back it also
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proves to be the safest method, preventing any danger to operatives and third parties.
To ensure minimum disruption to customers, traders and traffic, work is carried out at night from Monday through to Thursday. Safety comes first at P Mac and they are proud to report zero accidents or near miss occurrences since they took on this contract 10 years ago. All staff undergo continual health and safety training, including safety aspects of Street and Walkways Cleaning & Maintenance. Training also involves policies on interaction with the public. P Mac Operatives work in pairs and are aware of the safety ethos: “if it is not safe – don’t do it”.
The blight of gum on the streets of Dublin is more prevalent on the North side of the city than the South side. The main shopping thoroughfares such as Henry Street, O’Connell Street and North Earl Street require cleaning on a monthly basis and these areas take a week to complete. Other busy pedestrianised areas including Grafton Street, Wicklow Street and Chatham Street require cleaning every two months.
Since 2004 the scope of gum removal work has been extended out to streets on the periphery of the city centre such as Rathmines, Ringsend to the south and Fairview and Phibsborough to the north.
As part of Dublin City Council’s continual enhancements to the city and city areas they have recently contracted P Mac to carry out deep cleaning of footpaths and streets outside business premises in villages such as Harold’s Cross, Terrenure, Rathmines, Ranelagh and Fairview.
As a lot of these footpaths have never been treated for gum, an initial deep clean is required which could take up to a week. Dublin is competing with the large shopping centres in the suburbs and needs to enhance the appeal of coming into town as a place for shopping, recreation and business.
While removing gum from the streets, P Mac also thoroughly clean and sanitise the footpaths and bins in the area using biodegradable products. They are also called upon to carry out ad-hoc jobs to further improve the City’s landscape, such as cleaning the Traffic Bollards and Utility Boxes around the city, which can include the removal of stickers and graffiti. They are also requested to remove on a regular basis the padlocks or “love locks” as they are known from our iconic Ha’penny Bridge.
P Mac are also responsible for graffiti removal in the City Centre and again carry out this work for Dublin City Council and “We Are Dublin Town”, formerly known as Dublin City BIDS. Rapid removal is the key to stopping graffiti. Studies show that graffiti vandals move on from areas where their work isn’t left on display. Graffiti sends a message of decay and apathy and Dublin City Council’s zero policy on this is vital to attracting visitors and traders to our city. This work is carried out in the early hours, between 4 and 8am to ensure minimum disruption to the public.
As graffiti removal specialists with Heritage Contractor status, P Mac can clean almost any surface, even the many medieval walls found in our city without causing damage. They were awarded Heritage Contractor status, because of the nature with which they clean and care for the
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