Man-made Timber

Maintenance-free Man-made Timber interpretation panels from Greenbarnes Ltd welcome visitors to the RNLI's garden at the National Memorial Arboretum.

Interpretation panels manufactured in our maintenance-free Man-made Timber have been chosen to provide the finishing touch for the RNLI memorial garden at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

The garden, created by well-known TV presenter Chris Beardshaw, is a development of the site which was originally created and funded by local RNLI volunteers.

With the help of the Greenbarnes information panels, visitors are guided around a landscape designed to reflect the work of RNLI crews and the relationship between crew members, a rescued person and all the families whose lives become interwoven during a rescue. It is intended not only as a celebration and recognition of the work of the RNLI but also to honour those crew members and people who have lost their lives whilst saving others.

The panels which use grp encapsulated digital prints framed in Man-made Timber for the ultimate in long life and low maintenance, are set on a lectern-style base and are the latest of an increasing portfolio of recent projects undertaken for the charitable sector.

For further details please call us on 01280 701093, email our Sales Department or go to our website, www.greenbarnes.co.uk/product-type/noticeboards/man-made-timber-notice-boards www.greenbarnes.co.uk/product-type/noticeboards/man-made-timber-notice-boards

(Top image reproduced by courtesty of the National Memorial Arboretum)

A2 notice board designed by Greenbarnes Ltd specifically for use in church porch environments.

The Church Porch – A difficult space to manage.

The church porch is an odd environment. Neither wholly inside nor outside, this transition between the secular and spiritual worlds, frequently becomes a neglected hinterland, of windblown debris, mildew and damp paper. Even churches which otherwise pay great attention to first impressions, are often guilty of falling at this last hurdle on their threshold.

In truth it is a tough environment to manage, in many cases still more suited to its original purpose of storing visitor’s weapons than to its more mundane modern roles of providing shelter from the rain, offering a place for meeting and greeting, and displaying copious amounts of information.

As a result this latter function, walls are often covered in damp and rotting pinboards, most of which are ill-designed to cope with the environment in which they are located. And it is for this very reason that Greenbarnes have developed a purpose-made range of unglazed notice boards for church porch applications.

Framed either in oak or, for completely maintenance-free performance, in Man-made Timber, (a recycled plastic with the appearance of timber), these boards have a weatherproof rubber pinboard, are available in a range of standard sizes, or can be made to measure.

If the problems outlined above have set alarm bells ringing, then contact us on 01280 701093, or email our Sales Department

Recycled Plastic A Board

Sometimes the most unlikely sounding headlines offer a gateway to the soundest of ideas. So it is with our MmT “A” board, the latest addition to our extensive range of notice boards and signs manufactured in Man-made Timber.

With the appearance of timber, but requiring none of the associated maintenance, MmT will not rot, split warp or fade and is therefore an ideal framing medium for signs including pavement signs where a traditional look is needed.

Originally developed in response to demand from one of our traditional markets, churches, this is an idea that can be adapted for a host of applications including restaurants, retail outlets and indeed any situation requiring the portable display or information permanent or temporary.

The illustration opposite shows the chalk board version, but a variety of substrates are available allowing permanent information to be displayed either in computer-cut vinyl lettering or as a digitally-printed graphic panel. Standard sizes include A1, A2 and 1100mm high x 575mm wide.

For further information, please call us on 01280 701093.

Maintenance-free Man-made Timber notice boards from Greenbarnes Ltd welcome visitors to the National Trust's Cragside Estate in Northumberland.

Visitors to the National Trust’s Cragside Estate in Northumberland are now presented with the information necessary to make the most of their visit courtesy of a series of recently installed information boards manufactured from recycled plastics.

No less than 15 boards from the Greenbarnes Man-made Timber (MmT) range have been installed throughout the extensive property which has 9 separate car parks and 30 miles of footpaths.

The Trust’s decision to opt for maintenance-free MmT boards rather than their traditional timber equivalent is in keeping with the pioneering spirit of the property which, as the family home of Victorian inventor and industrialist Lord Armstrong, was not only the first house to be lit by hydro-electricity but also boasts a wealth of other ingenious gadgetry including fire alarm buttons, telephones, a passenger lift and a Turkish bath suite.

“I am very happy with the boards. They are perfect for what we wanted and have made a great impact in the few weeks they have been up. They fit into the landscape/setting very comfortably, particularly as we are a Grade One listed landscape. I am particularly keen on the use of recycled materials”, commented Duncan Norman of The National Trust, on the decision to opt for MmT in such a sensitive location.

I am very happy with the boards. They are perfect for what we wanted and have made a great impact in the few weeks they have been up. They fit into the landscape/setting very comfortably, particularly as we are a Grade One listed landscape. I am particularly keen on the use of recycled materials.

As the accompanying photographs illustrate, we think he has a point! To learn more about the benefits of our maintenance-free recycled plastic notice boards ring us on 01280 701093, email our Sales Department or go to www.greenbarnes.co.uk/product-type/noticeboards/man-made-timber-notice-boards

An A3 portrait format menu case from Greenbarnes' new Man-made Timber Smallboard range.

Restaurant owners know that now, more than ever before, success depends upon creating a good first impression. If passers-by don’t even break their stride to glance at your menu, then its content is irrelevant, they won’t be dining. So presenting the information in a tidy and professional fashion becomes a prerequisite of success, but how is this best achieved?

In many cases, particularly in urban surroundings, the answer lies in the use an aluminium menu case (and we offer plenty of alternatives to fill this requirement), but is there something more appropriate for use elsewhere, in more rural surroundings?

The traditional and obvious answer to this question is to use a timber display case of some description, but these do require unflinching dedication to their regular maintenance in order to keep them in tip-top condition.

But fear not! Now there is a maintenance-free solution that looks like timber but has none of the inherent problems of wooden menu boards – the Greenbarnes Man-made Timber Smallboard.

Greenbarnes have been manufactured larger scale notice boards in this versatile recycled plastic material since 1994 and, as a result of demand, we are now pleased to offer these menu-sized cases in 3 standard sizes, A2, A3 & A4 in portrait and landscape formats. Man-made timber will not warp, rot, split or fade and as it is totally impervious to salt, it is ideal for use in sea front environments.

For more details of the benefits of man-made timber, please click here. Alternatively, to discuss the possibilities, including branding and bespoke sizes, please call our sales team on 01280 701093.

A recent church sign project for Great Baddow United Reform Church, Essex. From January 2011 all non-VAT registered customers will inevitably be paying more to get their message across.

If the two great certainties of life are death and taxes, 2011 will start with a third, yet more tax! In order to begin plugging the huge hole in its finances, the UK government recently announced that from 04/01/2011 the standard rate of VAT will rise by 2.5% to 20%.

This may not sound like a lot but if you are currently considering spending money on signage, notice boards or street furniture and, if like many of our customers, you are on a tight budget and unable to reclaim VAT, (churches and village halls in particular come to mind here), in effect this represents 2.5% more that you will have to spend to achieve the same result. The only alternative will be to pare down your wish list to match the funds available.

Given that, by their very nature, these projects tend to take a while in the planning, our advice to anyone in this position would be to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later. Time spent now on working out what you need and gathering the necessary information will ensure that, not only do you have the time to make informed choices but also that you will be in a position to place an order in good time ahead of the crowd.

From January 2011 all non-VAT registered customers will inevitably be paying more to get their message across.

So, having convinced you that now is the time to act, the next question is where to start. Perhaps you won’t be surprised to learn that, in our opinion, you could do worse than ringing our sales team on 01280 701093 or email our Sales Department for sound advice and no-obligation quotations.

Comrie in Colour volunteers pictured with their new recycled plastic notice board

The beautiful village of Comrie in Perthshire, Scotland, lies on the banks of the River Earn at the edge of the Scottish Highlands and is in the heart of the scenic West Strathearn area of Perthshire, with mountains rising to the north.

When it comes to their recycling activities, the local population must be ranked amongst the most resourceful of citizens. Amongst the many active village organisations is “Comrie in Colour” which, last year, successfully gained awards in the Large Village category of ‘Take a Pride in Perthshire and ‘Scotland in Bloom. Building on this success the group has now decided to compete in ‘Britain in Bloom’ and to this end it has been working hard in and around the village.

“We have planted over 4.000 plug plants for the baskets to hang in the village, this involved making our own liners for the baskets out of re-used plastic resourced locally”
- says the group’s page on the village website.

Most recently however, the group has furthered its green credentials by choosing one of Greenbarnes’ range of maintenance-free Man-made Timber notice boards, also constructed from recycled plastics, to publicise its own work as well as that of other village groups.

For further details of all our recycled plastic notice boards call us on 01280 701093 or email our Sales Department or go to www.greenbarnes.co.uk/product-type/noticeboards/man-made-timber-notice-boards

A selection of our bollards

Eco Bollards and Eco Posts are a natural extension of Greenbarnes longstanding commitment to providing street furniture manufactured from recycled plastics. Available in a range of designs and sizes, these offer the perfect compliment to our existing Heavy-duty Man-made Timber range of notice boards.