Parking & Security Bollards

Traffic bollards are solid, vertical posts found in harbours, roads and industrial sites. They are used to form a perimeter, whether it be a shop, a barrier in a street or a car park overnight. At Unison, we offer telescopic and static bollards for industrial premises and roads. The posts tend to be made from materials that are not only solid but weather-resistant. Parking bollards are most commonly made from steel and filled with concrete however, bollards can also be made from aluminium, plastic, stainless steel and cast iron.

The placement of a traffic bollard depends on their purpose. If a bollard is used for security reasons, several regulations must be met. According to the Traffic Advisory Leaflet amended by the Department for Transport in October 2017, bollards must be ‘positioned to maximise blast stand-off distance, and spaced at a maximum air gap (between bollards) of 1,200mm’ to meet security requirements. You can read our simplified summary here.

Placement of traffic or parking bollards to limit or control pedestrian flow also has a set of specifications laid out in the same leaflet: ‘sites that experience high volumes of pedestrian use must accommodate movement safely, and at the required level of comfort and convenience.’ If you are purchasing bollards from Unison for pedestrian control, we guarantee placement that meets these guidelines.

Security bollards can be made of all sorts of sturdy materials, from plastic to stainless steel. Other materials include wood, concrete and other types of metal.

Bollards are short, vertical posts. Traffic bollards are used to control traffic, prevent ram-raiding and control pedestrian traffic. Parking bollards keep cars out of a premise when necessary.

Both traffic and parking bollards control pedestrian traffic by forcing pedestrians to funnel in between the posts thus slowing down traffic and creating an orderly line. 

Placing security bollards in front of a storefront will reduce the risk of people driving into the front window to rob a store. The bollards either stop those who attempt or deter those who would have attempted.

1. Mark the desired location of your bollard.
2. Dig a hole for your bollard roughly as wide in diameter as the bollard and as deep 45-60cm. 
3. Make the concrete, slightly wetter than the specifications.
4. Place the bollard into the pre-dug hole.
5. Fill the hole with the concrete you previously made.
6. Allow 48 hours for the concrete and bollard to set. 

Telescopic bollards move up and down. This means that they are only present when you need them. For example, telescopic bollards would be useful for a car park that is closed overnight as they can be raised to stop entry at night time. 

Static bollards cannot change their position easily. They remain in the same place throughout the day and would be useful for premises that aways requires restricted access and no vehicular entry. 

Telescopic bollards can move up and down at the will of the owner whilst the static bollard remains fixed constantly. 

There are a few applications of the parking bollard system:

Light Security Needs

You may have a need for bollards in an area with a low-security risk. Parking bollards can be used in car parks, shop fronts, schools and to control traffic. These bollards are normally quite widely spaced to allow a lot of people to walk through but also to control the flow of traffic. We recommend either static or telescopic for light security areas.

Medium to High-Security Needs

Places such as military bases, hospitals, football stadiums and government facilities would need more securely placed traffic bollards. The placement would need to be closer together to reduce traffic flow even more and slow down the pace of potential threats. Bollards can also reduce the risk of crashes into shopfronts etc. We recommend both static or telescopic parking bollards for medium to high security areas.