Street furniture has shaped outdoor spaces since its earliest days. Even the old train platform benches and street lamps – intended to be purely functional – added to the aesthetic while also providing locals and visitors with a place to meet, rest, or help with directions.

21^st Century street furniture continues to evolve, with infinite design opportunities, highly durable materials, and increased usefulness to people within those spaces, as well as to city and buildings management. This combination of utility and aesthetics can be a true transformation and an excellent investment.

Perfectly Practical

Benches, bollards, bins, planters and pergolas tend to go unnoticed but they’re all important to our daily lives. Today’s street furniture often combines these features for an even more compact, practical result such as seating around a planter – perhaps with some shade overhead, and a bin shell built in too! Or maybe it’s as simple as a bin that’s also a bollard. In each case, the best street furniture is tailored to the needs of the area and the people using it, as well as the overall aesthetic.

The right street furniture makes a space more inclusive and attractive. Having enough benches, for example, is important for the elderly when deciding where to go – and for anyone else who might need to sit and rest. Bins result in far less litter, which helps with maintenance and makes the space more friendly to everyone.

When choosing and designing street furniture our team focuses on the people who will be using it and on how each item will “live” in the space.

• When people walk around it, what will their alternate route be?
• Will it change the way they socialise?
• Will it make maintenance easy and not get in the way?
• Will it maintain or enhance safety and security?
• Will it look great and feel like a cohesive part of the broader design?

Street Furniture Sets The Tone

Aside from serving as somewhere to sit, a spot of shade, or adding some plant life, street furniture is intrinsic to the mood of a place. We often aren’t conscious of it, but imagine the “feel” of a park with modern, concrete benches compared to a more traditional look with filigree metalwork and wooden boards. This aspect of aesthetics has been studied in great depth and has been shown to affect the way people feel about a place, and the way they behave when they’re there.

Taking Pride, Being Social

Welcoming, well-designed outdoor spaces produce a sense of pride in the people who live and work there, encouraging them to take greater care of the area (putting litter in the bins provided; not cycling through a flower bed; and even calling out anyone who does those things.) This in turn makes the space more inviting to visitors, who are also more likely to take greater care, and makes the entire area more inviting to social interaction. The effect can extend to becoming a great space for events, creativity, or relaxation – all carefully influenced by design and planning.

Street Furniture Art

Some cities and spaces have commissioned artists to design street furniture, making these items well-known attractions that are featured in guide books around the world. The Jeppe Hein benches at London’s Southbank Centre are a great example of creative street furniture that features regularly on Instagram.

The Business Environment

Making the area around an office block more stylish and people-friendly is extremely effective. This flows from first impressions of the companies in that space – and even the meetings that take place there – through to the everyday comfort and enjoyment of people who work there. Attractive street furniture gives people somewhere close by to socialise and take a break, and there’s a sense that employers who prioritise those spaces care about human experiences and wellbeing.

Street Furniture Security and Safety

Bollards have been used to keep vehicles away from pavements since the days of the horse and carriage, becoming more sturdy and durable as technology evolves. These days, this is unfortunately a greater concern and many cities are using street furniture to keep pedestrians and the surrounding markets and buildings safe.

Bollards can be designed specifically for an area to match its design aesthetic, but planters bins and benches placed cleverly can provide just as much protection while also serving other valuable purposes – and of course, they’ll look great too.

When it comes to safety, the materials used in each item of street furniture play a key role. Strength and durability are a top priority, as are being weatherproof and not posing hazards such as splinters from wooden panels.

Decreased Crime

Well-placed street art is all about openness and maintaining good visibility. With lots of people around and no dark corners to hide in, psychologists explain that potential criminals won’t feel comfortable, so they’re likely to go elsewhere to avoid being seen. The pride people take in the area also discourages graffiti and other vandalism, as consequences seem far more likely.

Street Furniture: a solid investment

Being so durable, street furniture lasts a long time and is not easily damaged. It usually doesn’t require much upkeep, aside from general cleaning and occasionally some paint or other coating, so the value it adds outweighs any cost almost immediately.

Here at Harlestone Projects, we have a long history of designing and manufacturing street furniture for residential and commercial spaces that creates fantastic experiences for people, and makes cities and developers proud. Our range includes benches, pergolas, bins, bollards and planters, or we can design bespoke street furniture to perfectly suit any space.

Let’s talk about the street furniture you need – whether it’s one bench or a whole new development! You can reach our expert team on 01604 586000.