Street furniture is a combination of items which are usually put up or even taken to the streets with the aim of helping pedestrians and other road users to help minimise traffic in the streets and again make the street appealing. Street furniture is usually supplied in accordance with the accordance of the local authorities of a particular state, an example in Australia, there is an act governing the supply of this street furniture and coordinated by the particular service provider. The street furniture suppliers hence, usually are assigned the duty to provide these items to a specific street in a town. Proper integration of street furniture creates a sense of value and identity of that particular street. The street furniture suppliers, therefore, consider the following five factors before placing this furniture on the streets;
- Function-they measure the necessity of particular street furniture in a particular street and ensure that it fully serves its given purpose
- Form and appearance-they make sure that there is a link in the design of the various components of the street furniture.
- Durability-they calculates the period that the particular item of street furniture is set to be used in order to determine the best material that can be used then.
- Layout-they decide the best positions where these street furniture items are to be erected or placed.
- Cost-these suppliers have a budget to calculate the total cost of the furniture and compare against the benefits of them to ensure that each furniture street in place is worth to be there.
- Colour-The distributors consider colouring the furniture with a contrasting background colour to increase visibility to pedestrians.
Depending on the need of a street on a particular city, the street furniture suppliers offer the following furniture items; Benches, memorials, banners, signage, parklets, bike corrals, taxi stands, waste receptacles, fountains, bus shelters, parking meter bins, telephone kiosks, vending kiosks, and bollards among others.
The suppliers under the help of the service providers are responsible for the whole process of street furniture installation. These suppliers perform the following process during the installation of the street furniture;
- Construction of footings
- Furniture fixing
- Connection and supply of the electrical related services
- Connection of communication service
- Final commissioning.
Once the process is complete, the street furniture suppliers in collaboration with the service providers also have the following roles to accomplish;
- Responsible for the cost of protection of the items they installed.
- Repairs if necessary of the furniture items.
- Maintenance of the furniture items (exclusive of bins as they are maintained and cleaned by the city)
- Identification of items which may need removal.
- Care and protection of the furniture items
As the service providers are seen to be the boss of the suppliers, they perform the following duties;
- Revision of the locations of both existing and new furniture to ensure the given standards are met
- Ensuring that the street furniture doesn’t restrict access to business premises
- Ensure that the street furniture is fit and clean for use
- As different locations have a different requirement, these service providers ensure that the requirements are achieved despite the location of the city.
Who supplies street furniture in Australia? Each company which offers the supply of this street furniture usually has got websites which give out the details of which items they provide, and in addition, they also provide their contacts and addresses for easy communication.
