Future-proofing out towns and cities

USING PROTECTIVE STREET FURNITURE TO CREATE ATTRACTIVE, SAFE SPACES

The easing of lockdown restrictions will slowly present people with the opportunity to return to their pre-pandemic daily routines and behaviours. Urban economies largely depend on commuters and visitors, but with many now accustomed to working from home and shopping online – both HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group have recently announced sharp reductions in office space – there will be a challenge in attracting people back to work, shop, eat and drink.

For architects and landscape designers, this represents an opportunity to design, create and regenerate urban spaces. But alongside ensuring they are attractive enough to lure people back, they also need to be safe and secure, with protection that is in-keeping with the surrounding aesthetics.

A key objective in the design and build will be to ensure protective methods don’t impact the look and feel of a space.

At Marshalls Landscape Protection, we support architects, planners and landscape designers in tackling the threat posed by intentional and accidental vehicle collisions, while maintaining the design considerations of the space in question. We’re one of the only manufacturers in the world offering a range of decorative street furniture – from seating to planters – that is crash-tested to the latest standards in Hostile Vehicle Mitigation (HVM).

These standards are the means by which products are evaluated on their performance to prevent a hostile or errant vehicle penetrating a specific area. They are designed to provide those responsible for their installation with the assurance that what they specify will work, tested using vehicles in a range of weights and speeds to ensure product performance corresponds with the threat level.

Products accredited to PAS 68 / IWA 14.1 – the top level of these certifications – are capable of stopping a 7.5 tonne vehicle travelling at 50mph. At the opposite end of the scale, the PAS 170 accreditation offers protection against vehicles weighing up to 2.5 tonnes travelling up to 10 or 20mph. Each project is unique, so having products that meet various different standards provide a more flexible portfolio of protective street furniture that offers numerous benefits.

The Marshalls Landscape Protection range has been manufactured with both security and aesthetics built into the design. This means that cycle stands, planters, litter bins and benches can all be used to protect the public and create a space where people feel safe, which in turn will increase footfall and breathe new life into it. As the country bounces back from the economic effects of the pandemic, this will be vital to the regeneration of high streets and town and city centres.

A BRIGHTER FUTURE

By opting to use protective street furniture products the risk of fortifying

a space is minimised, meaning people can make the most of an area while ensuring they feel safe. Metal barricades, barriers and concrete blocks are often the go to choice and can deter people from using a public space. Using designled street furniture not only brightens and lightens an area but also makes it enjoyable for those using it.

We work hard to understand the best ways to minimise our impact on the environment, paying close attention to sustainability when designing, selecting materials and manufacturing our products. We take pride in choosing ethically sourced materials in our product ranges, which include FSC®certified timber, and we’ve also signed up to the Carbon Trust Standard which represents our commitment to reducing the carbon footprint in our product manufacturing processes year-on-year.

Architects and landscape designers are in a strong position to create safe and attractive urban spaces that will be crucial for attracting people back into towns and city centres. By implementing protective street furniture products and taking a design-led approach to security, our public spaces can be future-proofed in a way, keeping people safe… not scared® for years to come.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON MARSHALLS’ PROTECTIVE AND NON-PROTECTIVE STREET FURNITURE PRODUCTS PLEASE CONTACT +44(0) 1422 312 993 OR VISIT WWW.MARSHALLS.CO.UK/ LANDSCAPEPROTECTION