Pergola Seating Groups

This group covers the elements that complete parks and pedestrian areas: pergola seating groups, table-and-bench combinations and similar units. The catalogue holds 4 models. The material logic is shared with the rest of our urban furniture — load-bearing metalwork is electrostatically powder-coated and timber surfaces are protected against weathering.

What the group addresses are the gaps left by the standard furniture list. A site's need for benches, litter bins, picnic tables and gazebos is easy enough to establish; but every project throws up something outside that list — a seating point whose shade is built into the table, an arrangement that has to fit a narrow pavement width, or a unit sized to sit in front of an existing structure. This group fills that gap.

Pergola seating groups are the most common form of that need. Where there is neither the space nor the budget for a separate gazebo, an arrangement can take its shade from the table's own structure. That provides cover while reducing the foundation work and floor area a gazebo would demand. Shared residential spaces, campus courtyards, business districts and small neighbourhood parks are the typical settings.

The thing most often overlooked in a furniture plan is coherence. Benches, tables and bins bought at different times from different suppliers do not add up to a tidy space, and they also complicate maintenance — each unit ends up with a different paint, a different timber treatment and different fixings. A set that holds one material and colour language performs better both visually and in day-to-day upkeep.

Custom production to project dimensions falls within this group. Five things need settling when requesting a custom size: the exact dimensions of the space the unit will occupy, how many people will use it at once, whether shade is required, the type of base (concrete, compacted aggregate, soil, timber deck), and the material and colour scheme of the existing furniture on site. Supplied up front, these let the work proceed without revisions.

The general rules of urban furniture apply here too: the unit goes at the edge of a pedestrian route rather than on it, is planned in shade or with shade built in, faces something, and has its back protected. A litter bin belongs nearby; every point where people sit and eat generates waste.

The practical minimum furniture list for a small park or shared residential space runs as follows: two or three benches in shade and within sight of the play area, one or two litter bins near them, at least one picnic table to extend dwell time, a shade structure where there are no trees, and lighting for evening use. Investing in variety of equipment before that list is complete does not make a space more usable.

The products in this group are most often used to collapse two items on that list into one unit — seating and shade, or table and bench. In tight spaces that means both an easier layout and fewer foundation and anchor points; on small projects the two gains are worth counting together.

Units are fixed to the ground at installation. Anchoring prevents both tipping and displacement, and matters especially on pergola arrangements because of wind loading. The base must drain properly. Maintenance is the same as for the rest of the range: periodic renewal of protective coatings on timber, monitoring of paint integrity on metalwork, and seasonal tightness checks on fixings and anchor points. Tell us what you need and send a sketch of the site, and we will settle on a stock unit or a custom solution.