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UrbanStone Creates Safer, Better Looking Pavescapes Through Innovation

Over recent years the most demanding and creative Australian architects and designers have placed increased pressure on manufacturers in all areas of industry, to create products which are at once aesthetically and functionally outstanding.

One company, UrbanStone has consistently risen to the challenge and, in many cases, presented the design professions with spectacularly innovative options they'd not yet considered themselves.

Moreover, UrbanStone's creativity has been achieved whilst complying with the increasingly rigorous statutory requirements of products, particularly as they relate to their ability to cater for the special needs of the visually impaired and the physically disabled.

According to UrbanStone General Manager, Mr Michael Falconer, "designers who are at the forefront of their field intuitively ensure that their designs and product selections mirror the needs of the community which use the spaces and places created".

"This intuitive awareness and the extensive product range and flexibility offered by UrbanStone has sparked an already steady demand for the expansive collection of tactile paving, dual-coloured step treads and bullnose edges, as well as the special drainage and edging pavers, we produce", he said.

Certainly, even a cursory examination of UrbanStone's range reveals cleverly unobtrusive designs which guide visually impaired visitors along the directional tactile paving towards special ramps and safer pedestrian facilities.

UrbanStone's functional but eminently practical dual-coloured step treads demarcate the trip hazard for the visually impaired by creating a change of colour between the step edge and the main body of paving.

This change in colours has sufficient contrast in luminance to allow pedestrians with diminished sight to negotiate with confidence and relative safety a hazard such as a flight of stairs.

Mr. Falconer explained that this step hazard can now be bound by hazard-warning tactile pavers that again alert pedestrians, via their dimpled feel under foot, that they are now approaching a potential hazard.

"For someone with complete sight this may seem an insignificant requirement, but for a designer empathetic to those who will frequent his project, it is of fundamental importance and an absolute must from a public liability/legal point of view".

Mr. Falconer detailed the many areas in which UrbanStone's products are helping designers and the community they're bound to serve.

"Ramps to give an alternate access to areas, in lieu of steps, are now commonplace in the detail of a good workable pavescape design", he said.

"Wheelchair access, motorised scooters and even persons negotiating the access with the aid of a walking frame all need to be catered for."

Mr. Falconer added that any pavement surface and its resistance to slipping are of paramount importance on these access ramps.

"UrbanStone’s shotblast exposed aggregate pavers provide an excellent surface for these applications with a coefficient of friction in excess of that required by the AS/NZS standards, giving a 'very low' risk of slipping when wet", Mr. Falconer said.

UrbanStone's designer paving also has a vital role to play in responsible pavescape design it would seem.

Mr. Falconer said UrbanStone's new Shifting Sands paving module provides an aesthetically pleasing and different look that can be used as a demarcation 'edge' that provides a suitable tactile medium to deter users from straying too close to a hazard.

"Public liability insurance and claims resulting from accidents in public areas have the potential to impact not only on the unfortunate victims but also on lessors, lessees, shop keepers, councils, architects and designers alike," he added.

Recognition by designers and architects of these far-reaching ramifications has no doubt hastened the demand for UrbanStone's products.

Daily enquiries from designers, specifiers and Local Government authorities underline the growing vigilance and sense of responsibility being shown.

UrbanStone's extensive range of specialist pavescape products, unmatched design flexibility and exceptional technical support is leading the charge in providing a safe UrbanStone environment and pavescape for all.

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