Machan benches compliment The Aviary at Arboretum perfectly

Opened in 1852, the Arboretum is Nottingham’s oldest public park. It houses a collection of over 800 trees, and being close to the city centre, it is used year-round by visitors and inhabitants alike.

In 2011, the City Council saw the need to replace the public seating in the park, but were met with some challenges: there was a restricted budget, and any new benches had to fit in with existing furniture as well as the overall aesthetics of the park.

A local Nottingham company had already created bespoke seating for the park: these seats had decorative bronze ends, twig patterns on the legs and rustic timber seats. Unfortunately, the new seat ends were stolen to be sold as scrap.

Machan Engineering, a specialist designer and manufacturer of street furniture for more than 25 years, was called in to come up with a solution.

For the replacement seats to fit in with their surroundings, Machan had moulds made in-house of the original bronze seat ends, so that they could be made out of cast iron – a less tempting prospect for metalwork thieves.

Cast iron seat ends manufactured in-house to replace stolen bronze versions.

The Iroko timber slats were naturally treated and the cast iron left raw so that it would weather with age, gaining an increasingly rustic appearance over time.

Nottingham City Council ended up with very similar seats to those initially purchased. The new seats came in under budget and fitted beautifully in with the Arboretum surroundings. Machan Engineering also suggested to the client that they could stipple-brush the cast iron seat ends, to give them a finish akin to that of weathered bronze.

Fliss Hogg of Nottingham City Council was delighted with the result: “The Arboretum benches were designed by a local Nottingham company and fit perfectly within a heritage park. Unfortunately, the original benches were created using bronze for the ends, and these were stolen because of the scrap value. Machan Engineering created a bench following the original design using cast iron ends and Iroko timber. The benches look great in the park. The cast iron is currently left untreated, which makes the benches look old.”

For more information about Machan Engineering please visit www.machanengineering.com or give us a call on (+44) 01324 824309 to se how we can help you with your project.