Industries — Streetscape Furniture and Signs
Abrasive Blasting & Coatings for Streetscape Furniture and Signs
Streetscape work is the part of our workload where the finish is the point. Bollards, seating, bike racks, sign frames, gates and balustrades are looked at closely, touched constantly and photographed by the people who commissioned them, so the coating has to survive weather and contact while still looking right. All of it is blasted and coated in house at our Bayswater workshop, which lets us match the media and the system to the substrate rather than treating every item as structural steel.
What we handle
Typical streetscape furniture and signs items
Items come from councils' contractors, landscape and public realm builders, architectural metalwork fabricators, sign makers and property managers. Typical work includes bollards and wheel stops, bench and seat frames, bike racks and rails, planter surrounds and tree guards, sign frames, posts and panel supports, gates, fences and screens, balustrades and handrails, and decorative or heritage-style ironwork.
The split is roughly half new fabrication and half refurbishment. New pieces need a full system from bare metal; refurbishment items arrive with layers of accumulated paint, graffiti coatings, sticker residue and rust in the ground-contact zone, all of which has to come off before anything new goes on.
- Bollards, wheel stops and tree guards
- Seating frames, bike racks and rails
- Sign frames, posts and panel supports
- Gates, fences, screens and balustrades
- Decorative and heritage-style ironwork
Coating systems
Which coating systems tend to suit this work
Public realm items need weather durability, colour that holds, and a surface that tolerates cleaning. These families come up most often for this kind of work.
| Coating family | Where it commonly comes up |
|---|---|
| Zinc | Frequently specified as the corrosion-protective first coat on steel items going into permanent outdoor service. |
| Epoxy primers | The common high-adhesion base under a durable outdoor finish. |
| Polyurethanes | The usual finish coat for streetscape work — durable, colour-retentive and stable under sunlight. |
| High builds and finishes | Used where a specified thickness is required between primer and finish. |
| Alkyd primers and finishes | General-purpose systems on items in milder or sheltered exposure. |
| Epoxy and polyester | Where a harder-wearing surface is wanted on items taking constant physical contact. |
This is general guidance rather than a recommendation for your item. We apply specified and non-specified systems — if you are working to a paint specification, send it through and we will work to it.
Preparation
Surface preparation considerations
Substrate identification matters more here than anywhere else in our work, because streetscape ranges across mild steel, galvanised steel, stainless and aluminium — sometimes within a single item. Aluminium and stainless components need the gentler blasting process, since a coarse profile blasted into a visible panel will telegraph through the finish coat no matter how well the coating itself is applied. Tell us what each part is made of.
Detail and geometry are the other consideration. Decorative ironwork, perforated screens and tube-and-plate assemblies collect old paint in places that are difficult to reach, and ground-contact zones on bollards and posts are usually the most corroded part of the item. It is also worth telling us about existing anti-graffiti coatings and about whether previous paint layers are old enough to warrant testing before removal — that is a decision for the asset owner, and we would rather raise it than work around it.
All blasting and coating happens in house at 46 Malvern Street, Bayswater. We do not offer mobile or on-site blasting, so items are dropped off or sent by courier and collected once finished.
Services
Services used for streetscape furniture and signs work
Garnet Abrasive Blasting
Strips built-up paint layers, graffiti coatings and rust from steel bollards, gates, fences and frames, back to a clean, profiled surface.
About Garnet Abrasive BlastingGlass Bead Abrasive Blasting
The right process for aluminium and stainless streetscape items, leaving a smooth, even matte surface without a profile showing through the finish.
About Glass Bead Abrasive BlastingProtective Coatings
Outdoor systems chosen for weather, sunlight and constant handling, applied in house straight after blasting.
About Protective CoatingsThe ornate gate panel being blasted in our gallery shows how detailed streetscape ironwork is handled, and the satellite dish refurbishment demonstrates the same approach on large, visible panels finished to a clean, uniform standard.
See the gallery →Questions
Streetscape Furniture and Signs FAQs
Not in place — there is no on-site blasting. Bollards, seating, sign frames and balustrades need to be removed and delivered to the Bayswater workshop, processed, and reinstalled by your own contractor once they go back.
More general questions are answered on our FAQs page.
Talk to us about your streetscape furniture and signs job
Send photographs, dimensions and any paint specification you are working to, and tell us whether you will drop the item off at Bayswater or need transport arranged.