Marshalls Landscape Protection, part of hard landscaping manufacturer Marshalls Group, has designed, manufactured and installed inclusive outdoor seating as part of a Leeds City Council pop-up park, creating a welcome green space in the centre’s busiest shopping street.
Created using Marshalls Landscape Protection’s Distrikt® timber seating range, the new seating area is located on an artificial grass installation located on Briggate – the busiest shopping street in Leeds. This latest pop-up park is currently home to a large animatronic Diplodocus, part of a temporary dinosaur trail across the city.
Responsible for making the seating requirement happen, Leeds City Council Project Manager Richard Sadler explains:
“The last 18 months have been especially challenging and the city centre is in full recovery mode. This busy street experiences huge footfall daily, and the main aim for this specific seating project was to create an additional green space for people to sit, dwell and take in the extraordinary sight of this life-sized dinosaur.”
Securing the winning tender, Marshalls Landscape Protection managed the whole process from designing the seating and drawing up visual communications for the client, to its manufacture and installation.
Marshalls Specification Development Manager, Dominic Renney, talks through how the design came together: “Mirroring the curves of this giant dinosaur, six of our curved and straight Distrikt® benches have been connected together to create a snaking 10m-long seated area.”
Accessibility has been considered carefully too so that anyone can use the seating. Meeting DDA best practice, the design features strategically positioned armrests so that wheelchair users can transfer easily. At the opposite end, backrests have been incorporated to enable elderly users to sit down and stand up more easily.
Made in Britain, the Distrikt® range is a customisable timber seating range.
Unlimited options such as seating direction, arm rests and backs mean a free flowing seating arrangement can be configured as long as the project requirements.
The Distrikt® range’s hardwood seating slats are manufactured using FSC®-certified Iroko Timber, which includes a certified chain of custody that tracks materials and products through every stage in the supply chain.
Supporting the slats is a steel structure with loop legs. The mild steel components are available in a wide range of RAL colours with unlimited customisation options. For this project, the steel elements are powder-coated in Carmine Red (RAL 3002), providing a colourful contrast to the green, fake grass backdrop.
Working with Leeds City Council to minimise disruption of this busy shopping area, the Marshalls team successfully fitted the seating arrangement in the evening after 7pm.
Commenting on the completed install, Leeds City Council Project Manager, Richard Sadler, concludes:
“The snaking seating looks great and is already being well used. We’re always striving to achieve a cost effective solution that meets budget requirements; one that looks the part aesthetically, delivers the right quality and is fit for purpose.
“Marshalls has worked with Leeds City Council on a long list of collaborations over the years including these more recent pop-up park schemes. The team has certainly delivered on every level for this seating design.”
The seating will remain in place over the summer and will then be removed and reused as permanent feature seating somewhere else in the city centre.
For more details about the Marshalls Landscape Protection commercial street bench solutions, please visit www.marshalls.co.uk/commercial/landscape-protection/seating