STREET CLEANING & GRAFFITI REMOVAL
Graffiti in the area can also have a militant aspect to it. In the past, the Orbis team has been called out to a house that has been covered in ugly, racist profanities. They have also turned up to a house to find that the entire front had been paint bombed. “You think you’ve seen it all,” said the Orbis team member, “and then the next job comes in.”
But, fortunately, graffiti is much easier to remove technically and does not provoke the same reaction from the community since most of it does not in any way look artful. It tends to be a case of applying the remover, sometimes a few times if it is stubborn, leaving it on for 20 minutes, then wiping it off.
Most of Orbis’s graffiti removal work is done on housing estates in and around Belfast, since Orbis’s contract is with a social housing provider. The council has its own task force to do graffiti removal work in city centres. On these estates, there is a risk that militant elements there might take offence at the graffiti being removed, but the team has never been confronted. “Our priority is to get the job done as quickly as possible and get on to the next job,” added the Orbis team member.
pacifist material relating to the area's cultural and industrial heritage.
The authorities struggled for years with how to go about removing the Falls Road murals, and many others that are reminders of Northern Ireland’s most troubled past. They opted to proceed cautiously, over a period of years, to avoid provoking a backlash from the more militant backstreets elements. “There has to be community buy-in for any mural to be removed and this has to be from grassroots level and up. If they don’t and the mural was removed, all hell could very well break loose,” explained the Orbis team member.
twitter.com/TomoCleaning
Jet Wash Cleaning Across the Irish Sea in Glasgow, Orbis delivers other services to a social housing service provider to clean up buildings and areas to keep them looking as inviting as possible.
In 2014, Orbis undertook a specialised six-week project for the client to clean three 22-storey high-rise buildings in the north east of the city.
At around 58 metres tall, the buildings are visible from across the whole of the area. Given that the render was covered in green algae, caused by Glasgow’s famously wet weather, this was hardly ideal. “Let’s just say that the buildings looked far from their original cream and red colour,” said an Orbis Scotland team member.
Orbis needed a novel solution to clean the buildings since to powerwash the insulated render on the building, and to use hot water, would have damaged it.
By removing offensive
graffiti and by cleaning properties, Orbis is helping its clients to
improve the look and feel of properties, streets and areas.
Orbis erected cranes around the buildings. A mast climber platform provided the Orbis cleaning team with access to each level. Specialised cleaning products and a cold water, low-pressure jet-wash were used. The algae and dirt was successfully removed and the render was returned to its original colour. “It looked absolutely brilliant after we’d finished the work,” added the Orbis team member. “We were really pleased with the solution we came up with and the end result.”
Dirty and graffiti-ridden areas can act as a magnet for crime and anti- social behaviour and lower the value of the neighbouring properties. The importance of managing the appearance of properties and areas shouldn’t be underestimated. By removing offensive graffiti and by cleaning properties, Orbis is helping its clients to improve the look and feel of properties, streets and areas. This helps to improve the price of the housing stock, maintains rents, reduces the risk of crime and anti-social behaviour and increases investment. It is vital to keep up appearances.
www.orbisprotect.com
39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78