As 2017 draws to an end, Hardscape’s MD, Mathew Haslam reflects three of the company’s standout projects from this year.
“We’ve come a long way since Hardscape was born in 1994. Driven by our desire to support our customers in selecting the best hard landscaping materials for their projects and a commitment to educating the industry about the properties and benefits these materials can deliver, we’ve been able to work on some truly amazing public regeneration schemes.
2017 has been yet another fantastic year completing a number of outstanding projects, overcoming challenges along the way with innovative hard landscaping solutions. Hardscape has lots of great opportunities lined up for the New Year, so keep an eye out for our monthly newsletters for the latest updates!
Although I consider all of our projects to be prestigious, it would be impossible to discuss them all. Here, the Hardscape team has picked out three particularly leading projects across the UK, all the way from Yorkshire to Belfast, to demonstrate how we help bring our clients’ visions to life.”
The Piece Hall, Halifax
Already an award-winning scheme, having scooped the accolade for ‘Best Rescue of a Historic Building’ at the Historic England Angel Awards held in November in London, The Piece Hall is proving to be an amazing restoration scheme worthy of many more awards!
Hardscape supplied 5,500 square metres of Forest Pennant paving and setts for the central courtyard and a blend of four Portuguese granites and also Kilkenny Irish Blue Limestone. Twelve solid granite benches and forty euroform-w Iroko timber-topped granite benches, featuring a galvanised steel framework were also supplied.
Read about the full transformation of The Piece Hall here.
Connswater Greenway, Belfast
Ten years ago leaders in the East Belfast community, had a vision of a walking/cycle/nature path that would link some of the public parks of East Belfast by following the watercourse of the Connswater and Loop Rivers from the Cregagh Glen down to the Connswater’s entry to Belfast Lough.
AECOM of Belfast were appointed for phase 1 design and they were seeking a robust modular material for the Public Park areas of the Greenway and selected a 3-colour Kellen Lavaro blend of Wit, Grijs and Rood. Landscape architects from The Paul Hogarth Company of Belfast were appointed for the phase 2 design and they selected various natural stones as pavers, setts, walling and kerbs throughout the magical 9km course of the Greenway for the design palette.
The Greenway was completed in April 2017 opening in full to the public. It’s been an incredible ten year journey and Hardscape has been privileged to be amongst the stakeholders involved in the creation of this magical linear park making East Belfast a better place for people to live, work, visit and invest.
Read more about the vision in East Belfast that became a reality here.
Hull Public Realm
Foundations for the City of Culture 2017 gave Hull a once in a generation opportunity to transform the City Centre and its public realm. The transformation of Hull City Centre gave an opportunity to change how people and businesses use the city and this was represented by a huge investment by Hull City Council.
The regenerated public realm flows through the city starting from the Paragon Interchange down through some of the most important areas of the city, finishing in the historic marina area.
Hardscape supplied 20,000m2 of Magma granite which was chosen as the predominant material, both for its durability and colour variation together with 15,000m2 of Kellen Lavaro paving and 2000m2 of Hardscape’s Prima Porphyry from Italy.
The most significant indication that the project has been a success is the increase in the number of people that are using the streets and squares as places to stop and spend time. All in all an incredible project that Hardscape had the privilege and pleasure to contribute towards.
