With the responsibility sitting with Councils to ensure a town or city is an inviting and safe place for residents to enjoy, Hutt City Council do their best each year to spend rate-payers money wisely.
Someone who feels this responsibility keenly is Rong Qian, Landscape Architect for the Council, who has been working on upgrading tired and shabby areas of the city with new paving and street furniture. This year, for the first time, Rong chose pavers from Firth’s PaveWare® range to upgrade an untidy area around the Waterloo Road shops and train station - with spectacular results.
“Our budgets allowed for the replacement and upgrade of pavers and seating around these shops so I started looking at what paving options were available, “ explains Rong. “We have tended to use an imported clay paver but in this case I asked Firth to supply samples of a concrete paver from their PaveWare® range for consideration.”
“Initially we were asked to supply samples of our 50mm paving but because Rong wanted to hone the pavers, which reduces the thickness of the paver below 50mm, he decided that they would use something thicker,” says Bob Reihana, Sales Representative for Firth. “Because of the honed, more modern finish he also asked us to supply information on slip testing.”
“When we use small pavers for heavy duty foot traffic we can normally use a 50mm thick paver but because I chose a medium size paver, the Firth PaveWare® Piazza® (200W x 400L), we could create an interesting paving pattern with the PaveWare® Holland® paver and I decided to go for the municipal grade option,” explains Rong. “It’s my job to make sure that whatever we choose is very hardwearing and will look good for a minimum of 10 years.”
With colours chosen from Firth’s Designer Series Rong placed his first custom order with Firth for two stages of the project.
Due to the thickness required and the colours chosen Firth made the pavers to order.
Product used:
- PaveWare® Honed Holland® in Paihia
- PaveWare ® Honed Piazza® in Raglan Sands
- PaveWare® Honed Piazza® in Avon
All pavers were sealed with a penetrating sealer to enhance longevity, protect the paver and be more durable in the open environment
“Even though this was the first time I had dealt with Firth I found them to be very helpful,” says Rong. “Once I saw the finished result of the first two stages we decided that, as we had some remaining budget, we would continue the use of this look to the third stage which will start in the next few weeks.”
“I am very pleased with the result as it looks great, it's a big improvement, I know it will be hard wearing and it’s New Zealand made. I now have the sample box of colours and I am looking at what combination of colours and sizes we can use for the next project.”
Project Details
Customer: Hutt City Council
Landscape Architect: Rong Qian
Product used: Custom made PaveWare® Piazza® and Holland®
