Context

Schools should be safe for children to explore, learn and grow. However, Carden Primary School in Brighton had been subject to two separate incidents within 12 months, where a vehicle crashed through the perimeter fencing. The first vehicle crossed the playing field and crashed into the wall of the school building, and the second ended up on the playing field. Luckily, on both occasions no teachers or children were present, and no-one was hurt.

Finding a crash-rated solution

After the second incident, Brighton & Hove City Council stepped in for the safety of the children and teachers. An architect was commissioned to find an appropriate solution which would stop a vehicle from accidently getting onto the school playing field. The solution had to stop a vehicle coming from a T junction heading directly towards the school.

The architects’ requirements were for the solution to:

  • be subtle – the ideal solution would not stand out or draw attention
  • not act as a climbing aid – this would cause a different risk
  • not encroach too much on the school’s property

Product selected

The architect contacted Barkers regarding its StronGuard™ RCS crash-rated fence.

StronGuard™ RCS could not only stop a 7.5tonne truck at 30mph, but it did so whilst looking like and being in the same footings as a standard palisade security fence. Using a crash-rated fence meant that a section of the fencing could be replaced with StronGuard™ RCS deployed in its place.

StronGuard™ RCS crash-rated fencing was the ideal solution for the school because it:

  • protected the school, children and teachers from vehicles
  • was a single solution – putting another crash-rated solution in front of the existing school fence may have acted as a climbing aid
  • didn’t encroach on the school’s land any more than the previous school fence
  • was easy to install - the foundations were similar to a standard palisade fence
  • looks like a standard palisade fence from the front face, which is not uncommon for a school security fence

Installation

StronGuard™RCS was deployed by Knight Fencing around a section of the school perimeter to stop any further vehicles getting onto the school premises.