The manufacturer Marshalls Landscape Protection has launched Verso – a street furniture range, pictured, of rated and unrated products for public protection schemes.
The precast concrete seating includes benches, stools and planters in a variety of configurations for public spaces. The modules within the range are available with two ratings and include unrated options, so designers can create schemes where the protective elements are indistinguishable, the makers say.
Optional seating additions are available and supplied in either FSC-certified timber, or in a Wood Plastic Composite. As for sustainable public protection schemes, Wood Plastic Composite is made from 95 per cent recycled and sustainably sourced raw materials. Seating made from this material is entirely recyclable at the end of their lifecycles and the firm says resistant to rot and decay.
The company’s FSC-certified Red Grandis timber seating and planter additions also offer similar ‘green’ credentials. The global forest certification system recognises timber sourced from well-managed forests and recycled sources. Marshalls adds that its products are now produced using 100pc renewable energy.
Available in straight and curved segments, Verso’s low height allows it to blend with surroundings, without disturbing line of sight; as a discreet alternative to a row of bollards, the makers say. As the range offers protective and non-protective options within the same system, urban planners can avoid over-specifying, by selecting the appropriate protection with no visible demarcation between the products.
The precast concrete modules are available in three colour options: City Grey, Silver Grey and Anthracite Grey. Optional seating and planter additions manufactured from Wood Plastic Composite come in five colour options. Planners can also specify optional seating additions, such as bench tops, seat tops and arm rests in FSC-certified Red Grandis timber. Marshalls can also offer further personalisation by powder coating metal elements in a range of RAL colourways, or in the Corten Effect.
Jaz Vilkhu, Managing Director at Marshalls Landscape Protection said: “The new collection has been developed to help specifiers seamlessly blend varying levels of protection throughout a space, creating secure and attractive schemes. This helps to deliver maximum value across the project and avoids unnecessary fortification.
“Each seating module from the range can be used as a standalone piece or installed together to create a longer seating block. Similarly, with so many different shapes, seating options and plank materials to choose from, those overseeing the specification process can always ensure that they’re getting the most from their designs and creating spaces that don’t feel oppressively defended.”
Protective solutions from the range have been crash tested to IWA14-1 using either a 1.5 tonne M1 vehicle, or a 7.2 tonne N2A vehicle travelling at 30mph, or both. Non-protective elements, such as planters have not been tested. Visit: www.marshalls.co.uk/commercial/landscape-protection.
