The high rise tower blocks that are now the main feature of The Isle of Dogs sparkle with glass, steel and granite, and those blocks contain some of the most prestigious addresses in the United Kingdom. Canary Wharf is now arguably the financial centre of London, with some of the biggest names in banking and […]
Evans Concrete’s recent hard landscaping project at the University of Sheffield in Yorkshire seems to have been particularly appropriate, in the light of research undertaken by the University’s Department of Landscape in conjunction with a London-based think tank. The hard landscaping includes precast concrete benches and planters, designed to create a pleasant outdoor environment for […]
A Coroner’s Court can be a strange place, even for those not immediately concerned with the legal procedures that take place in its environs. It represents the final bureaucracy, the serious enquiry, the last of the official forms completed, signed and stamped, and a life considered, and closed. For those immediately concerned in the court […]
Colwyn Bay, in Conwy, North Wales, is seeing a transformation that will pump life-blood into this attractive town and turn the somewhat neglected promenade into an example of what can be achieved by a determined borough council backed by the Welsh Government, The European Regional Development Fund and Visit Wales. The project, which will eventually […]
25 Cabot Square, overlooking the River Thames and West India Middle Dock at Canary Wharf, was originally built in 1991 but recently underwent an extensive redevelopment. Canary Wharf and the surrounding area on the Isle of Dogs is now the financial and insurance centre of London, and the modern glass, steel and concrete buildings […]
A city is defined and recognised by its public spaces. In many cases these are historic, but no city can survive by living only in its own history; public spaces, those places where people meet and interact, need to adapt as the needs of its people change.
The versatility and durability of concrete make it the material of choice for many designers who are seeking innovative solutions to a common problem; how to make public spaces which are capable of coping with constant heavy use, but which at the same time are attractive and welcoming.
The list of prize-winners at the 2018 Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show has once again demonstrated the vital role hard landscaping plays in contemporary gardens.
The use of concrete as a medium for sculpture has a long history. The artist Henry Moore, for example, made a total of 21 sculptures in concrete in the 1920s and 1930s. He commented that he was attracted to the material because it was cheap, but also because it was becoming increasingly important as a building material and he felt that it had a great future in public art.
By the end of the sixties, ‘concrete’ was almost a dirty word, calling to mind vistas of cheap, grey mass-produced buildings, featureless and drab. Now, in the hands of experts, it is an artist’s material.
