The works of famous minimalist artists of the mid-twentieth century would not be out of place at the launch of Wrekin’s new Highway range.
The home of intelligent products for civil engineering, Wrekin, is inviting visitors to view manhole covers and gully grates as not purely functional necessities of the road but as a way to enhance the urban environment through a unique combination of high-performing functionality, style and elegance.
This is not a new idea. Carl Andre’s Equivalent V111, famously known as ‘The Bricks’, caused huge public debate when it was exhibited at the Tate in 1976. Today, Japanese street artists create drain art and keen ‘gridders’, such as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, take photographs of striking examples of highway ironwork and post them online. There is a small but serious group of followers determined to make manholes and gully grates seen as art.
Now, Wrekin is launching its new Highway range at the Wrekin Pavilion ‘Seeing is Believing’ exhibition, which will challenge traditional views of manhole covers and gully grates. Specifiers, contractors, local authorities and ironwork installers are all welcome to come and see all the benefits of Highway, which offers a single range to meet every requirement in highway ironwork, including manhole covers, gully grates and ancillaries.
Sales Director Simon Turner explains: “A huge amount of engineering precision and design expertise goes into our products. Once they’re in the ground, many of the benefits are unseen, so we’re shining a spotlight on the ingenious features that make Highway products so useful.
“Our experts will be on hand to give visitors a truly comprehensive overview of how Wrekin can help local authorities, contractors and other highway industry professionals to meet the challenges of reliable performance and effective maintenance.
“All Highway products are super-easy to stock, specify, install and maintain. They exceed compliance with relevant standards, including BS EN 124 and HA104/09. And they also look great – they’re strong, durable and elegant. Truly, seeing is believing when it comes to Highway.”
As well as the Wrekin Pavilion, the company will be based at three of the six specialised outdoor zones – Maintenance Matters, Making Our Mark and A Smarter Network. At each location, Wrekin will be providing live demonstrations of its innovative products, including Unite manhole covers, Uni-Pak bedding mortar, the latest in chamber designs and a variety of geosynthetics for highway embankments.
Seeing is Believing takes place 9 – 10 November at Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire.
