Butterfield signs were recently contracted to provide elements of feature cladding within Hemel Hempstead’s main retail shopping centre, The Marlowes.
The client required a natural timber look and feel to the areas which were sited within glazed atriums. This meant that material stability and UV bleaching needed to be considered.
The solution provided utilised various square and rectangular hollow aluminium extruded profile sections, carefully wrapped in a digitally printed woodgrain effect vinyl, mounted to aluminium powder coated backboards.
Works included areas above retail shop units and the centres main feature high level welcome wall.
Hemel Hempstead was developed after World War II as a new town, it originally was a settlement in the 8th century and is mentioned in the Doomsday book.
The town is famous for its Magic Roundabout (also called the Plough Roundabout) opened in 1973 as a more complicated version of the Swindon Magic Roundabout. The giant roundabout centre is surrounded with six little roundabouts, complete with a river that runs through the greenspace in the middle.
The unusual roundabout has cars travelling in both directions, and when it first opened, it was so chaotic that police officers had to be stationed at each of the mini roundabouts to direct drivers and help them navigate through the confusion.
