City centre benches can be magnets for crime and anti-social behaviour, attracting thieves, drugs related activity, rough sleepers, problem drinkers, graffiti and skateboarders. In some central London areas, nearly all the street benches have been removed due to residents' complaints. It was time for a new approach.
In 2010, Factory Furniture were commissioned to design a new range of seating for Camden Borough Council to address these problems.
The designers sought advice from many different departments including Transport Planning, Highways Engineers, Community Safety, Street Cleansing, and the DDA officer as well as academics from Central Saint Martin's with backgrounds in design against crime, and the Metropolitan Police's Crime Prevention Design Advisor.
This wealth of expertise was intended to ensure that the new bench resolved a wide variety of urban challenges to allow Camden officers to reintroduce benches to the borough to encourage walking, enhance the quality of the public realm and enable people to sit and enjoy public spaces and streets. The benches were designed to resist criminal or anti-social behaviour (ASB) through the following features:
Anti-rough sleeping – as the peaked top cannot be slept on
Deters drug dealing as there are no cracks, slots or gaps in the bench in which to hide such materials.
• Deters bag theft as a slot along each side of the bench allows people to store bags behind their legs
Difficult to skateboard on – as the edge of the bench fluctuates in height
Reduces littering as the bench has no flat surfaces, cracks, slots or gaps
Self-cleaning as it is designed so that litter, dirt and water flows off it due to the shape and its lack of cracks, slots or gaps
Easy to slightly move and relocate the bench, removing it from problem areas, as it sits on the footway and is not bolted to a foundation.
Observational studies have shown that people have quickly taken to using the bench. People also seem more comfortable sharing it, possibly due to the different height and facing seating areas on the bench.
The client, Tim Long from Camden comments"I believe the Camden bench sets new standards: in reducing anti-social behavior, simplifying street cleaning and creating a much more inclusive design"
Awards
Keep Britain Tidy best practice,
Design Council / Home Office approved to design out crime,
Home Office approved for counter-terrorism use as a vehicle blocker.
