Once every 10 years, a city in the Netherlands forms the backdrop for the world horticultural exhibition Floriade. In 2022, Almere is the place where visitors will enjoy trees, flowers, plants, vegetables, fruit and green innovations for six months. More than 400 national and international participants will demonstrate to an audience of millions how their green solutions fit within Floriade’s theme of ‘Growing Green Cities’.
As a partner, Heras Mobile is supplying 70 Combi-Wood fences. These robust construction fences consist partly of wooden panels produced by people reintegrated into the labour market. For six months, visitors to the Expo will see how these green and trendy construction fences contribute to the ‘Growing Green Cities’ theme. Schasfoort: “The Combi-Wood fences at the main entrance of the Floriade Expo give a nice look as visitors enter. They match the appearance of the surrounding temporary buildings and immediately show visitors that sustainability is central to Floriade. As Arcadis, we also embrace sustainability in everything we do. The Combi-Wood fences tie in well with this.”
– Nick Schasfoort – Assistant Project Leader Urban Development at Arcadis
To give the Combi-Wood fences an even greener look, planters from Green Construction Fences have been mounted to them. The natural look gives visitors a pleasant and pleasing sight when they go to explore the Floriade grounds. In addition, a local, social institution takes care of the plants as a day care activity. Not only is employment created in a sustainable way, but transport movements are also reduced. Thus, Combi-Wood contributes to urban greening, social impact and reduced CO2 emissions. The sustainable wooden construction fence Combi-Wood thus fits in perfectly with the theme of Floriade.
In the initial discussions, it struck Arcadis that Heras Mobile could also contribute to the optimal security of the entire site, and so they extended the cooperation. Creating this 60-hectare park in a short time frame has been a huge challenge. There was a lot of simultaneous construction on the site, which meant, among other things, that pedestrians and construction traffic crossed each other. So it was valuable for Floriade to think about securing the site against unwanted visitors as well as visitor safety. Heras Mobile addressed these challenges by cordoning off the Floriade site with Anti-Climb construction fencing, sliding gates and turnstiles. Schasfoort: “Heras Mobile thinks along very well to solve suddenly arising problems together with us. As a result, we managed to create a safe fence around the site during the construction and opening of the Floriade Expo.” Thanks to the solid fencing with a high-quality appearance, unwanted visitors were no longer spotted. Visitors also walk more safely around the Expo grounds, giving a sense of security and making the experience optimal.
