What was grotty is now gleaming, what was scuffed is sparkling and flaky old paintwork is now simply fabulous.
That’s thanks to a team effort led by the York BID (Business Improvement District).
It has hosted the first ‘rejuvenation days’ – an idea to to improve the appearance of infrastructure across the city centre.
The project aims to refresh tired-looking benches, bike racks, bollards, bins, and other street furniture across the city centre.
York Racecourse has donated a generous amount for the required supplies.
The rejuvenation days are just one of many great outputs from the Cleaning and Rejuvenation Partners meeting.
This is a bimonthly gathering of the York BID, City of York Council, York Civic Trust, York High Street Forum and Make It York, who all identified city centre infrastructure as in need of attention.
The rejuvenation days are a partnership initiative coordinated by York BID and supported by the above parties, with both HSBC and Barclays volunteering their time, too.
About 90 pieces of individual infrastructure have already been refreshed. The initiative started on Parliament Street, and the volunteers are working its way up to High Ousegate, Coppergate, and Piccadilly.
Due to the high numbers of volunteers involved, Davygate, Lendal, St. Sampson’s Square, North Street (plus gardens) and Wellington Row have also been added to the list of targeted areas.
Carl Alsop, operations manager at York BID, said: “It’s already been an incredible couple of days of rejuvenation for the city, with plenty more hard work to come.
“York BID is sincerely grateful to everyone who came out during the cold weather spell and look forward to welcoming more volunteers to the project.”
Sarah Loftus, managing director of Make It York, said: “We were thrilled to be able to take part in the city’s rejuvenation project and support York BID, helping to breathe life back into Parliament Street and improve the appearance of key infrastructure within the city.
“It was great to see so many different businesses volunteering their time and sharing a laugh.”
William Derby, chief executive and clerk of York Racecourse, said: “We are pleased to support York BID and their volunteers in their fantastic work in the city centre.”
A fifth day has been added to facilitate the extra demand where members of the Probation Service will help out with the project.
Additionally, a thorough prep of the streets conducted by City of York Council, followed by a hot wash of pavements cleaned by York BID, has been planned once the project is complete.
There’s still an opportunity to get involved – please contact [email protected] if you would like to help with this initiative tomorrow (Thursday, 25 January), or future rejuvenation projects.