DRAINAGE & LANDSCAPING
GETTING UNDER THE SKIN OF PEDESTAL SUPPORTING ACTS Quality, attractive, high-performance hard landscaping is key to the successful completion of commercial and domestic projects, delivering a sense of community that adds place and value. But what lies beneath these beautifully designed areas is equally important to their performance and should not be overlooked, as Julian Thurbin, of specialist pedestal manufacturer Wallbarn, outlines. WALLBARN
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rchitectural visions of how completed urban regeneration schemes will look frequently form part of public consultations and early planning applications, with computer-generated images giving life to how designers imagine the street scenes will look. Often these projects are beautiful with large areas of paving linking commercial and leisure activities with transport hubs, housing and ‘centrepiece’ attractions such as fountains or garden areas. The aesthetics and performance of these areas are integral to their success and rightly considered early in the development programme. Yet, all too often the pedestal systems that form the unseen support to what can be hundreds of square metres of expensive and heavy paving are not given full consideration. So what do you need to consider?
FC&A – MAY – 2020
Pedestals – the benefits
adjustable and heavyweight pedestal solutions. All provide a ‘floating floor’ with uniform, spirit-level flat surfaces and separate paving/decking from the base structure, improving drainage, protecting the surface beneath and avoiding the need for sand and cement.
Pedestals are used to support paving or decking at street level or on roof terraces or balconies. There are a wide variety of products on the market, from entry-level fixedheight solutions to self-levelling, 28
For many specifiers and end clients, a huge benefit of using pedestals is quick installation, the ability to cope with complex shapes and pitches and ease of maintenance – flooring elements such as slabs and decking can easily be removed for inspection or repair and services can be run in the space beneath. Selecting the correct system for a project depends upon its needs, complexity and weight of the paving. Consider if the site has differing levels, height thresholds or lightwells/roof windows/penetrations? For example, a roof deck may have blemishes or ridges where felt overlaps, or the thickness of paving slabs may differ slightly across a project. Both situations are perfect for self-levelling pedestals, which can also be used to create the required fall across a flat roof.
