A major restoration project at one of the UK’s most significant industrial heritage sites has been given a fitting final touch – with two PAS 68-rated planters installed by Derbyshire security street furniture firm Securiscape.
The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, which stands on the site of the world’s first inter-urban passenger railway, has just undergone a £40m transformation designed to repair and renew its collection of Grade I and Grade II listed buildings.
The latest phase has seen the museum’s Upper Yard, just off Liverpool Road, restored and opened to visitors, with two of Securiscape’s planters forming a centrepiece of the space.
But not just any planters, because these were the biggest-ever products Securiscape has supplied in its history and the result of a highly specific brief which it received from Manchester-based Planit-IE landscape architects last year.
The requirement was for two large PAS 68-rated planters, each measuring five metres long and 2.2 metres wide, finished in Corten steel, with no visible welds to any elevation or panel.
Crucially, the planters also had to be removable, since large services run beneath the area, and needed to be manufactured off-site so they could be dropped into position without disrupting the ongoing paving works around them.
Securiscape fulfilled the brief by using two sizes from its patented planter frame system, which allowed the units to be fabricated to the precise specification required, delivered to site and installed without delay to the wider programme.
The Corten steel finish, chosen for its distinctive weathered appearance and its sympathetic relationship with the museum’s Victorian brick buildings, develops a rich, rust-toned patina over time.
This makes the planters a natural and permanent-looking addition to one of the UK’s most important heritage settings.
The result is a pair of substantial structures which blend seamlessly into the restored public realm and are planted with an attractive floral scheme, including trees and flowers popular with pollinators, while delivering the security credentials that a high-profile publicly accessible site like the museum demands.
Mark Stone, managing director of Securiscape, said: “The brief from Planit-IE was very precise. They wanted large scale, no visible welds, Corten finish, removable and installed without holding up the rest of the programme.
“That’s exactly the kind of challenge our patented frame system is designed to meet and I’m really pleased with the way in which we’ve been able to demonstrate its flexibility.
“Now, seeing the finished planters in place at a site of this significance, as part of a restoration that has been years in the making, is something we’re all proud of.”
The Science and Industry Museum’s Upper Yard forms part of a wider transformation that will eventually open the entire historic site to visitors, with new galleries, a science playground and improved connections to the surrounding Castlefield area all planned in the years ahead.
Securiscape company mission is protecting people in public places, and its work began when it was founded in the wake of the 2007 attack at Glasgow International Airport.
It designs, manufactures and installs a range of HVM products tested to standards including PAS 68 and IWA 14 and its range includes its own patented street planters, HVM bollards, Glide Bollards and guardrail systems.
For more detail visit www.securiscape.co.uk
