One of the world’s most historically important and iconic buildings is Shakespeare's birthplace, which is a restored 16th-century half-timbered house located in a quaint paved street in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. It’s here, in Henley Street, that William Shakespeare was born in 1564 - the area is a mecca for tourists from across the globe, who visit the street to get a glimpse of Shakespeare’s first home and a taste of Tudor living.

In light of the prominence of vehicular attacks in recent years, crowded spaces are now seen as high-risk areas that need careful consideration when reviewing the safety of the public. Perimeter security is a highly effective solution that ensures the safety of large groups of people. Last year Marshalls Landscape Protection were approached by Landscape Architects, Design with Nature, to provide protective measures which would blend seamlessly into the surroundings of Upper Henley Street and Windsor St Car Park and Windsor Street.

Protective furniture is not traditionally viewed as products that enhance landscapes, more as a necessary evil to ensure our people, places and infrastructure are kept safe from threat. In most cases, protective products are developed with minimal consideration given to their design. Marshalls Landscape Protection has flipped this on its head by offering a design led approach of Secured by Design Hostile Vehicle Mitigation security products, enabling highly effective protection to blend in to landscape design; allowing architects, planners and designers to install security measures without instilling fear.

Marshalls Landscape Protection worked with Project Consultancy, Tandem Projects to deliver the brief and in Mid-March installed 22 shallow mount bollards and 2 lift assist bollards in line with the magnificent paving of the area in Warwickshire. The bollards are manufactured in grade 304 stainless steel, then powder coated. The organic decorative sleeves are finished with a unique flower burst design and powder coated in bronze to integrate harmoniously with the historic surroundings.

Jaz Vilkhu, Managing Director at Marshalls Landscape Protection explained, “The lift assist bollards are bespoke to this project – we engineered our standard product to accept the designed sleeve. Usually these systems are designed so the sleeves need to be removed when in use, however with our bespoke solution we eradicated the need for this. It was very much the intention to seamlessly blend protective measures into the wonderful public realm here.

Marshalls’ developments in design, manufacture and technology negate the need for bulky and obtrusive products, enabling those who design public spaces to think more creatively about how they can include protective and non-protective street furniture within landscape design features.

Jaz Vilkhu concluded, “Our protective street furniture is designed to promote safety of shared urban spaces, ensuring those using them feel safe… not scared. Our aim is to help create inviting spaces that encourage visitors to linger and relax.”