Background: Havering Council approached Alltype Fencing Specialists Ltd to help resolve a pedestrian safety issue at Mead Primary School. Visitors, parents and pupils had a long walk from the front gate to the main reception, with no dedicated footpath, meaning they were required to walk through the car park. The challenge was to create a safer route without losing valuable parking spaces or reducing playground space.

Solution: The initial layout was not straightforward, as several possible options had been considered but most would have resulted in the loss of important car parking spaces. Alltype agreed to attend a design meeting with Havering Council and the school to review the site properly and help develop a practical solution.

By looking carefully at how the site was used during both busy periods, such as school drop-off and collection, and quieter times during the day, we proposed an alternative route that protected the existing car park layout and avoided taking space from the playground. This allowed the school to improve pedestrian safety without compromising other important areas of the site.

The works involved removing and adjusting existing fence lines, installing new fencing to suit both the existing site appearance and safeguarding requirements, and forming a new dedicated tarmac footpath to guide pedestrians safely from the entrance towards reception. We also installed three new gates, including one where the existing access control equipment was removed from the original gate and reinstalled onto the new gate.

To complete the scheme, we coordinated new line markings and introduced gate management arrangements to help keep gates closed at key times. The completed layout has worked well in practice, and Alltype have since returned to the school on multiple occasions, confirming the long-term success of the solution.