Teesside Park Shopping Centre

A trend running through retail landscaping currently is creating a transition area between car parking and the physical store fronts. This transition acts as a safety measure for pedestrians and makes their shopping experience more relaxing and enjoyable. Of course, designing these areas to be workable is a major challenge, as they need to look attractive, but not trap customers in and have clear flows through the zone.

Planters are a perfect feature to use in this transition area. Therefore, the client decided to use Stapel planters with a Grade A weathered steel, or Corten planter edging finish. This reflects the steelmaking heritage of the Teesside area.

When installing this Corten planter edging there was concern about potential runoff and leaching from the steel as it was weathering. To overcome this, the planters incorporate a dual-purpose shadow gap at the bottom of the raised edge. This means any runoff flows into the sub-base rather than onto the paving.

The client took advantage of the 1200no linear metres of straight and curved Stapel raised edge to incorporate Plateu integrated seating and loungers at various selected points. The design of the Plateu complemented the modern design aesthetic of the new store facades. Thanks to its intermediate slats, we could craft radii sections around the raised edge by altering the angles between each slat.