We’ve delivered a lot of products in our time, but we think we’ve just completed the “nicest-ever” assignment in our 20-year history after we installed four of our counter-terrorism planters in the City of London.
The scheme comprises of four of the company’s PAS 68 hostile vehicle mitigation (HVM) street planter frames, which are made of angled steel sections and capable of stopping and disabling a 7.5 tonne truck travelling at 40mph, placed in among a line of the City’s distinctive Victorian bollards.
Each one has been fitted with four decorative concrete panels to ensure they fit in with the architecture of their surroundings in the Square Mile and then completed with a planting scheme consisting of heuchera and ivies and a different species of tree, as requested by the City of London Corporation, which commissioned the installation.
We’ve installed PAS 68 HVM street planters in many other places with many other decorative shrouds, made from a range of materials including stainless steel, patinated brass and Portland stone. This isn’t the first time they’ve been shrouded in concrete but the design scheme, which features geometric shapes created with a smooth and pebble-dashed finish, is a first.
And it’s this design element, which gives the products their architectural finish, which our managing director, Mark Stone, said makes the installation one of the most satisfying projects the firm has undertaken.
He said: “We’ve supplied our street planters all over the UK and in New York and I have to say that this is probably the nicest one we ‘ve done in the last 20 years, because of the way the finished products look and the way they add to the street scene.
“The City of London is the country’s financial nerve-centre, so security is of paramount importance. However, nobody wants to go somewhere that feels like a fortress, which is why security schemes that complement the urban environment are so necessary.
“The distinctive bollards are a historic part of the City of London, but the corporation wanted planters to mix things up a bit. I’m delighted with how they look, not least because the trees also add a touch of nature and will help to keep people cool during the summer.”
Securiscape is one of the UK’s most innovative suppliers of HVM street security products and its range also includes blast-resistant litter bins, Glide bollards which can be slid in and out of position to give access to permitted vehicles and its IWA-14-rated pedestrian guardrails, which are designed to stop vehicles from mounting pavements and were developed in the wake of the London Bridge attack in 2017.
It also created its ground-breaking Securipods, which are surface-mounted temporary barriers used to protect temporary events – without relying on concrete, which is costly to transport.
Securiscape’s products have been installed in a host of towns and cities across the UK, including Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham and London, where they have been used to protect the UK headquarters of two international banks and Brent Borough Council’s civic centre in Wembley.
