Malabar town centre is looking schmick this evening after receiving a dose of the special treatment by a group of Randwick City Council staff.

Clocking on as early as 4am, over 50 staff from various Council departments – affectionately dubbed the ‘Blitz crew’ – undertook intensive cleaning and maintenance projects across Malabar earlier today.

This latest effort is the Council’s second ‘Blitz crew’ operation, after last month’s focus on Randwick town centre yielded positive results.

Randwick Mayor Philipa Veitch said that by occasionally coordinating and concentrating its efforts on one town centre at a time, Council is adding value to its daily, city-wide maintenance operations.

“I’m so grateful to the dedicated Randwick Council staff who work so hard every day to keep our city’s streets, parks and public domain looking so wonderful.

“Daily maintenance and improvements will always be our core business, but the coordinated and methodical nature of the Blitz crew delivers quick results and progress on priority projects."

In preparation for the one-day blitz, Council door-knocked local businesses to inform them of the works and to identify areas for focus. Then today, staff from Council’s waste and cleansing, trades services, open spaces and road services teams:

• Laid 60 square metres of pavers
• Installed 60 new signs and 14 new bollards
• Refreshed all road line markings
• Planted 17 large trees and 137 ornamental plants
• Laid 17 cubic metres of mulch on garden beds
• Completed additional mowing, edging, hedging, brush cutting and pruning
• Steam-cleaned over 1000 square metres of pavement
• Removed graffiti, stickers and tape from all signposts
• Installed additional recycling, waste bins and signage

"What a difference a day makes”, said Mayor Veitch.

“Our experience in Randwick and Malabar town centres demonstrates that the focused activity of the new ‘Blitz crew’ delivers an instant spruce-up to an area and a boost to local businesses.”

Council will soon announce the next town centre in Randwick City to receive a spit-and-polish as it rolls out ‘Blitz crew’ operations across the local government area over coming months and years.