It’s not always about the paving:
When selecting and supplying hard landscaping products for a scheme, the paving seemingly steals the limelight with its flexibility of shapes, sizes and a wide palette of colours. As a result, the importance of accessories such as kerbs, steps and cladding can often be overlooked. We take a look at different types of products and what they can bring to a typical hard landscaping project.
Kerb appeal
We supply an extensive selection of kerbs, channels and edgings that provide functional, integrated borders between highways and pavements, with some options providing effective water management solutions too. Kerbs are readily available in our main product types, though Granite and Kellen are the most popular, and range in many different types – such as ‘flush’, ‘bullnose’, ‘flat channel’ and ‘half battered’ to name a few. They are also available in a range of colours to match the paving scheme chosen, this can be seen on Millstone Lane, Leicester, for example.
To show you an example of the impact these different kerb choices can have on landscape design, see the image above. The paving shown is Prima porphyry but in contrast the kerb choice is Darton Brown granite half battered, bull-nosed and bush hammered, this gives the granite a similar look and feel to the porphyry and complements the paving well.
Taking the right step
Steps are another important to consider when approaching any hard landscaping project. They can be tailored to suit individual designs, using various colour combinations and different material inserts.
For example, Blackburn Cathedral Quarter boasts a striking paving colour scheme, with a mix of bright Magma, Royal White and a darker Kobra Green. The steps, however, stand out the most as they too are Kobra Green, but have Magma inserts showing the contrast in colour fantastically and complementing the scheme.
Getting tactile
Tactile paving is an important component in any public realm hard landscaping project as it acts as a signal to visually impaired pedestrians to warn them of what is about to be in front of them. There are several different types, however the two main ones are blister and corduroy.
Blister tactile paving has small, round nibs to warn before a road crossing. They are flexible in dimensions, material and can withstand heavy overrun traffic.
Corduroy tactile paving has horizontal lines sticking out to warn before embarking on steps. As with blister, they are also available in a range of sizes and colours.
At Glebe Road, Bowness-on-Windermere (pictured above and right), we can see both types in use. The scheme is paved with stunning, local Burlington Westmorland Green and Cumbrian Black slate. The blister is in a brighter Royal White granite and the corduroy, which usually is a similar colour to the steps, is Westmorland Green.
At Hardscape we understand it’s not always easy to know exactly what you’re looking for, so if you’d like to ask a question about any of the accessories mentioned, or understand the difference between a flat channel and a half battered kerb or you would simply like to run something by us, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us today.
