Communal garden with a paving feature at the MAC, Birmingham

We recently had the pleasure of working at the Midlands Art Centre otherwise known as the MAC in Birmingham. The centre is set for theatre, dance, and comedy performances as well as art and other special displays. The MAC was recently awarded a Government Culture Grant of approximately £685,000 after they were forced closure affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic.
 

We were contacted by the Leighton Buzzard based Architect’s practice Bowels and Wyer to finalise the details for their specification, the aggregate colours and design complexity of a rather interesting design feature. The overall design had to meet the requirements of the centre who requested that physical alterations were necessary to ensure it would guide visitors, staff, and artists safely around the building.

The main contract was awarded to commercial paving contractors, established in 1991, Interclass PLC, who were happy for us to supply and install the specified resin bound materials and work with their timescales, as the centre is due to re-open their doors in early Spring 2021.

Preparations to the areas were made firstly with an asphalt base and applying aluminium step nosing supplied by Dural to the tops of the stairs plus adhering resin bound step risers in a 3mm Norwegian Pearl colour to the front of the five steps, which in turn provides a truly seamless look to the step area.

The main installation comprises of a free-flowing resin bound pathway and an accessible ramp of approximately 105m² leading to one of the entrances for the main building, the same Natural Aggregate colour 3mm Norwegian Pearl was used in these areas to offer that safe seamless access that the Midlands Art Centre desired.

Outside in a quiet secluded location is a beautiful wooden seating area, designed and built to give a flow of calm against the cast iron privacy screens and complimenting paving feature. The MAC certainly kept their ethos of placing artists at the centre of their arts centre with some beautiful artistry pieces outside.

The paving feature of a bird and leaf motif detail was made using MDF stencils and infilled with our 3mm British Racing Green material supplied by Long Rake Spar.

The overall area of the circle totalled to 11m² this included the artistic bird and plant/flower design. To ensure we had the best possible installation we secured the stencils to the asphalt base and laid the main resin bound paving colour around them, we then allowed this area to cure overnight and returned the following day to infill with that extraordinary dark green blend, which really made the motif’s standout.

The specifications recommend for this project was for Pathways, available to download from our website.

Designer paving is one of our specialities and we often complete creative paving works in all shapes, colours, sizes and complexities.