Village center of Made future-proofed after redevelopment
The centre of the North Brabant village of Made has been given a makeover. On the basis of a centre plan, the village centre has been tackled properly. In realising the new village centre, current developments were well considered and a future-proof plan was created. Visitors to the centre area, their visiting motive and frequency were mapped, and functional, spatial and traffic bottlenecks were examined. The outcome: a pleasant living environment for Made's residents and visitors. Grijsen was commissioned to provide street furniture for this redesign.
- Client
- Municipality of Drimmelen, Den Ouden Aannemingsbedrijf B.V.
- Location
- Made
During the survey, it emerged that shoppers in Made are mainly residents of Made and the surrounding villages in the Municipality of Drimmelen. In 85% of cases, people came for groceries or other targeted purchases. As such, the centre has a local delivery function. Only in 8% of cases did someone come to actually stay in the centre. The walking route of those surveyed was also portrayed. This showed that many respondents followed the same walking route through Marktstraat. Nieuwstraat and Kerkstraat were less frequented. With the insights from the survey, an appropriate interpretation of the shopping street was determined.
A compact shopping area
One of the ideas in the town centre plan is to make the shopping area more compact. The Marktstraat must become the place in Made where people will do their shopping in the future. The focus of public functions is already here and new businesses will be located in the Marktstraat as much as possible in the future. This provides space in other places for cosy squares for catering and events.
However, Marktstraat was not the only area to be tackled. The subareas Raadhuisplein, Kerkplein and Molenplein were also part of the redevelopment. While Marktstraat was geared more to shoppers, Raadhuisplein was to become the residential and events square. The road surface and the square should easily be merged into one large square. For this reason, the square was built at ground level. This offers the possibility of organising events, such as fairs or the fair. On days when there are no events, the local catering industry can use the square to extend its terrace. Furthermore, the square is furnished with movable elements, so that the square is not left bare after an event.
Comfortable seating
After the town centre plan was drawn up, Grijsen was called in to provide the renewed areas with street furniture. Commissioned by Den Ouden Aannemingsbedrijf B.V. and Gemeente Drimmelen, Grijsen supplied various types of elements for Made's public space.
As the city centre area had to become not only a shopping area but also a place to stay, various benches from our Cruzado series were installed. These steel benches are fitted with an armrest. The armrest is not part of the standard design of the bench, but has been added additionally. The armrest offers the user extra comfort and convenience, for example when sitting down or standing up.
Safety first!
In addition, bicycle brackets and bollards have been installed for safety. These elements create a safe and orderly public outdoor space. The bicycle brackets, from our "Nietje" series, are placed to hold a bicycle. The brackets help visitors to the public space park their bicycle in a structured and safe way. This allows the person responsible for public space to control where bicycles are and are not parked. By facilitating visitor parking, bicycles are less likely to be parked against buildings or in the middle of the pavement.
Bollards, in turn, protect pedestrians from motorised traffic. Paths can be protected bollards to block cars. Cyclists and pedestrians, on the other hand, can simply move between the drop-off bollards. This fits well with the idea that motorists are now guests in the city centre area.
A clean outdoor space
In addition, the centre area should remain a nice place to shop or recreate. That is why Grijsen's litter bins have been installed alongside outdoor benches, bicycle brackets and bollards. The litter bins must keep the shopping street and the surrounding area clean of any litter. The choice fell on a litter bin with a capacity of 50 litres: the Constructo 50. This solid litter bin is made of hot-dip galvanised and double-layer powder-coated steel. This ensures that the bin will last a long time. If the litter bin is due for a refurbishment after many years, this is possible. This is because the bin is completely modular and therefore easy to refurbish. If necessary, a component can be replaced separately.
All the furniture Grijsen has been asked to install is made of steel. This steel is hot-dip galvanised and provided with a double-layer powder coating. This powder coating can be applied in any RAL colour of your choice, but the municipality of Drimmelen opted for RAL 7016, a beautiful anthracite-grey colour. This gives the furniture a nice unity.
