As is currently the case in many of the major towns and cities in the UK one of the key features of regeneration projects in recent years has been the increasing use of premium materials to set the key areas apart and make a statement as to the values that the city wishes to project.
Many individuals and contractors have been employed to deliver this steady stream of projects one of whom is Pat Thompson, Programme Manager – Major Projects at Cardiff City Council.
Whilst QSS had been involved with many projects in the South West it had never done any work in Cardiff but that was about to change courtesy of maintenance difficulties being experienced in Cardiff in recently regenerated areas. These problems led to a chewing gum removal test being devised by Pat Thompson’s team and Birse Civils (primary contractor). QSS was subjected to this formal test process to confirm the capabilities of the product it recommended to protect relevant high traffic/usage surfaces.
QSS applied it’s QStone impregnation to three different, client selected paving surfaces leaving half of the top surface untreated. Once cured, the client and contractor forcefully applied the gum every 10-12 days over four stages.
Removals were carried out and timed at Birse offices witnessed by Pat Thompson and Clare Moggridge of Cardiff City Council as well as the project manager, Kiernan Bird of Birse PLC.
Steam temperature was reduced equally on all removals to slow down times (recorded in seconds) by half, as at correct temp the gum removal speed was too fast to time accurately.
The average gum removal time of treated surfaces was 1.4 seconds. Residual gum stains were significantly lower on impregnated sections post removal.
Overall gum removal times were reduced by 46%!