Stainless Steel Street Furniture

Posted by detectmetal on May 14th, 2015

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Street Furniture plays a major part in regeneration of towns and cities across the country. Bollards, cycle stands, litter bins, planters and seating are used to develop public spaces to suit the surrounding areas.

With town centre pedestrianisation and limited traffic street furniture plays a pivotal role in security and providing the general public with areas to relax and enjoy the towns.

But certain areas have now come under attack from local residents and business as street furniture is often installed in a traditional cast iron material, which is then painted with an acrylic gloss finish. The problems are now arising with the quality of the finish; paint is often chipped to reveal an unsightly cast iron.

Cut backs to local councils have meant there is no budget, nor the staff to operate a full maintenance and repair service to localised street furniture.

The solution is to install stainless steel street furniture. With a minimum chromium content of 10.5%, stainless steel is continuously protected by a passive layer of chromium oxide that forms naturally on the surface through the combination of chromium and moisture in the air. If the surface is scratched, it regenerates itself. This particularity gives it their corrosion resistance.

It has a great variety of surface finishes from matt to bright, including brushed and engraved. It can be embossed or tinted and this makes stainless a unique and aesthetic material. It is often used by architects for urban furniture or building cladding.

The other area of benefit to using stainless steel is that stainless steel is a 'green' material par excellence: it is infinitely recyclable. The recycling rate of stainless steel is much higher than that of industrial alloys.

Aesthetically street furniture gives an impression of high quality and gives any design a contemporary and modern edge. Regeneration has moved on dramatically since the 1970's and 80's where tradition and heritage took the main focus, nowadays a cutting edge design is used to bring modernisation to towns and cities across the UK.

One major scheme at present are the Olympic sites, due to be finished in the coming months. These street furniture has been used widely from the athlete's village to surrounding areas. Stainless steel has given the scheme definition and continuity of modern design across large areas of the capital.

These Furniture continues to be the design of choice. stainless steel seats ad litter bins have been designed with the inclusion of another material, Sapele hardwood; this lifts the design and softens the feel of the stainless steel. All hardwood is sourced through FSC registered suppliers and is in keeping with the strict guidelines on recycled and ethically sourced materials.

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