What Is Street Furniture?

Here at Bin Shop we supply street furniture to councils and companies around the UK on a daily basis, therefore we have a good knowledge and understanding of modern street furniture. However, we were curious to find out more about how our products have developed over the years. We wanted to find out how they were initially invented, how they were manufactured, and when they first hit the streets. The term ‘street furniture’ is a term which is used collectively, mainly in the United Kingdom, it is used to describe objects and pieces of equipment that are installed on streets and roads that serve a variety of purposes. Some good examples of street furniture are benches, traffic barriers, bollards, railings, and traffic signs. Street furniture has been around for hundreds of years. Street furniture has also become an important part of many nations’ identities. Some prime examples of this are red telephone boxes seen around Britain, mail boxes situated outside of houses in the United States and street lights and metro entrances in Paris, France. Bollards have been in use since the 18th century, their use is still the same now, which is to prevent traffic from going onto pavements, and to protect buildings. The first examples of bollards were made from wood, however they were soon replaced by iron. It is said that in 1721 there were two oak posts set up next to the medieval Eleanor cross at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire. In the 19th century, bollards were more popularly manufactured from granite. Another piece of street furniture which is used for controlling traffic is railings, these became common in the early 18th century and were mainly made from iron. The railings which surround St Paul’s Cathedral are some of the earliest that still remain. Modern railings though are more commonly manufactured from steel. Street lights are another piece of street furniture that provide a benefit to all of us here in the UK. The first electric street lighting, was initially known as the ‘Electric Candle’, which was developed by the Russian, Pavel Yablochkov in 1875. Mosley Street in Newcastle upon Tyne was the first street in the UK to be lit by electric light. The street was lit by Joseph Swan’s incandescent lamp on the 3rd February 1879. However, before incandescent lamps, candle lighting was employed in cities across the UK. The earliest lamps required that a lamplighter would tour the town at dusk and light each lamp individually. The 1900’s was an important century for street furniture in terms of traffic safety. Traffic lights were introduced in 1927 and were first installed at Piccadilly Circus, whereas Belisha Beacons came into use in 1935. 14 years later, zebra crossings were introduced in 1949. The installation of street furniture has become much wider spread over the years, one of the main reasons is the increase in urban populations. This therefore increases the requirements for transport, initially by horse and carriage, and then later the motor vehicle. We have seen changes in street furniture to accommodate the modern ages, forms of transportation we use, and the sheer volume of vehicles on the road today. Street furniture that is being produced today is very different to that of the previous centuries, even though some pieces of street furniture share similarities in design. They are very different technologically. A prime example which was introduced in 2011 are talking benches. These benches were introduced by the National Trust and they feature audio systems which play five-minute monologues voiced by celebrities. Another good example, which has been in the news very recently, are solar powered litter bins which let the council know when they are full. This is extremely efficient, as it takes away the factor of having to manually check bins, meaning bins will get emptied quicker. If you would like to find out more about the history of street furniture, or about street furniture in general, then please visit the following websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_furniture http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13600704 http://asfstreetfurniture.tumblr.com/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-23226128 To view our range of street furniture please visit the following link: http://www.bin-shop.co.uk/street-furniture