Street Furniture: My Passion, My Disappointment, My Challenge

Hi, I'm Alan Pendlewood, Managing Director of the company.

Street Furniture has been my passion and my hobby for many years. Contemporary design and innovative ideas that ooze character excite me much more than a trip to the cinema or the pub! However, I have recently been thinking about the state of our towns here in the UK and how there are lessons to be learnt both from abroad - and ironically enough if we wish to remain contemporary and relevant - by embracing the past.

To me, street furniture has become far too standard. The same products, in the same style... every archirtect and planner just seem to be encouraged to ‘play it safe and put the same old stuff in’.

This is causing our local community’s to lose their sense of uniqueness and identity. A town without identity can lead to a lack of pride and a sense of belonging, and this in turn can snowball into social problems.  

Currently it appears unique design is being stifled and ‘making a statement’ appears to be a frowned upon.  The more controversial amongst us could probably even argue that it has become a country controlled by accountants and quantity surveyors, where the big manufacturers exist simply to impress the shareholders and their bankers. Call me a dreamer, but this is what I term corporate madness...

I recently visited the wonderful island of Cuba and as I arrived in this distant land, it felt like I was taking a step back in time, as there was something familiar about the Cuban landscape. However the nagging feeling remained that there was a feeling that was not quite right. As I travelled around, the feeling got stronger but I couldn’t quite identify this annoyance that was beginning to haunt my trip.

Then, one lazy afternoon, I was sat on a park bench in the centre of Havana, attempting to do some of my deepest and most profound thinking. It then suddenly dawned on me what the problem was. The vibrant culture of the Caribbean was being totally ignored.

All the amazing architecture and buildings steeped in history, which are a throw back from Spanish colonial age, was completely at odds with the nondescript street furniture and play structures. It just didn’t work as they hadn't respected history and they hadn't respected wood.

Since returning to the UK, I have noticed that the problem is even worse here, with our own towns.

This has left me with two questions:

What are we doing to our cultural identity heritage?

Has individuality and creativity become a thing of the past in favour of mass produced madness?

Luckily, Pendlewood’s magnificent street furniture products are concepts that have been created by our designers simply thinking ‘outside the box’. Their passion and eye for a design have left me with a lingering hope that maybe the answer to question two is a resounding “NO”!

• Street Furniture
• Childrens playgrounds
• Early Years
• Outdoor classrooms & Shelters