Fencing and boundaries

Which one to choose

The mistake made most often is using a crowd barrier where a guardrail belongs. A nadar barrier is not anchored and will not hold back a pushing crowd; it marks a line. Where real force comes onto it — a descent in a cycle race, the exit of a stadium — different equipment is needed.

Material

Hot-dip galvanised steel is the standard for all three. It does not rust through, takes bad weather and survives the rough handling that barriers inevitably get: stacked, thrown, moved with a forklift. Powder-coated steel appears on permanent guardrails where the colour has to fit the streetscape.

Barriers as an advertising carrier

A row of barriers is a continuous surface at eye level, exactly where the public stands or passes. With printed banners or covers that row becomes, in one go, a sponsor carrier, an announcement or a screen for whatever is happening behind it.

For open, windy sites use polymesh rather than solid PVC — a row of closed banners along a straight run behaves like a sail.

Storage and transport

Barriers tend to be forgotten in the sums until they are delivered. They stack, but a run of a hundred takes up serious space and needs a trailer or a lorry to move. If you use them once a year, weigh buying against hiring; if you work with them every month, buy.