WO2017077314A1

WO2017077314A1 - A street furniture system

Info

Publication number: WO2017077314A1
Application number: PCT/GB2016/053426
Authority: WO
Original assignee: Traffic Management Products Ltd
Priority date: 2015-11-03
Filing date: 2016-11-03
Publication date: 2017-05-11
Also published as: GB2544057A; EP3371373B1; EP3371373A1; GB201519424D0

Abstract

A street furniture system comprising a mounting plate, a plurality of street furniture base assemblies and a plurality of street furniture elements, wherein the mounting plate defines two or more base assembly mounting locations, a base assembly is secured to each base assembly mounting location, and each base assembly supports a respective street furniture element; and wherein each base assembly is formed as a monolithic component from a polyurethane polymer and defines a base mounting portion and an elongate street furniture receiving portion projecting from the base mounting portion, the base mounting portion comprising one or more fixing elements via which each base assembly is secured to its respective mounting location.

Description

A street furniture system

The present invention relates to a street furniture system and in particular to a system that permits multiple discrete items of street furniture to be mounted together upon a common mounting plate.

Certain road signs and the like are formed from multiple individual elements that together provide the desired overall visual effect. However, such individual elements and the group as a whole are at risk of impacts from moving vehicles and also from vandalism. Accordingly, it is desired to provide each individual element with a base assembly that is self-righting and self- fronting. In the context of the present invention, a base assembly is considered to be self-righting if it is able to deform in the event of a force being applied to it (e.g. from an impact) and then return or recover to its original or rest configuration when the force is removed. A base assembly is considered to be self-fronting if it is biased to a specific orientation and will return to that orientation after a force resulting in a rotational deflection is removed.

Known self-righting and self-fronting base assemblies have become increasingly more complicated and now often include spring arrangements, pulley arrangements and/or various cam arrangements in order to provide all of the featured restorative forces. This greater complexity has resulted in increased manufacturing costs and has also increased the likelihood of failure of the base as a whole.

An alternative base assembly which is self-righting and self-fronting is described in

WO2013/057504. This document describes a two-part flexible base assembly. However, as described in WO2013/057504, it is necessary to produce an insert element of a first material and then mould around the insert element a base element body of a different material to form the base assembly described therein. This requires two separate moulds, two separate elements and a two-stage production process. The present inventors have found that a one-piece (i.e. unitary or monolithic) resiliently deformable base assembly can be provided which is self-supporting, self-righting and is self- fronting. In the context of the present invention, the terms "one-piece", "unitary" and

"monolithic" are intended to mean that the base assembly is formed as a single component. However, the single component may include elements, such as reinforcing elements embedded within it.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a street furniture system comprising a mounting plate, a plurality of self-righting and self-fronting street furniture base assemblies and a plurality of street furniture elements, wherein the mounting plate defines two or more base assembly mounting locations, a base assembly is secured to each base assembly mounting location, and each base assembly supports a respective street furniture element; and wherein each base assembly is formed as a monolithic or one-piece component from a polyurethane polymer and defines a base mounting portion and an elongate street furniture receiving portion projecting from the base mounting portion, the base mounting portion comprising one or more fixing elements via which each base assembly is secured to its respective mounting location.

The use of a polyurethane polymer material as the material for the base assembly has been found to provide the necessary resistance to deflection away from an upright configuration (i.e. out of a vertical plane) and also against rotation about a vertical axis without the need for additional components. Thus, the one-piece or monolithic base assembly according to the invention can be said to be both self-righting and self-fronting. A base assembly forming part of the present invention requires only a single mould and a one-stage manufacturing process.

Known street furniture systems do not include self-righting and self-fronting base assemblies in the form of a unitary component. The known base assemblies are either not self-righting and/or self-fronting, or they are not a single component. It is unexpected that a monolithic polyurethane base assembly as claimed may be provided that is inherently self-righting (i.e. is able to re-orient the street furniture receiving portion to a substantially upstanding configuration following a deflection of this portion out of a vertical plane, e.g. following an impact by a vehicle) and self-fronting (i.e. is able to re-orient the street furniture receiving portion to a specific (rest) angular orientation following the receiving portion being twisted or rotated away from its rest orientation).

The street furniture receiving portion supports an item of street furniture (i.e. a street furniture element). In the context of the present invention, the street furniture receiving portion may be in the form of an elongate post and the respective street furniture element suitably includes (i) one or more complementary brackets via which the street furniture element is secured to the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly, (ii) an aperture into which the post may be located, or (iii) a channel which is sized and shaped to receive therein the post in order to couple the street furniture element to the base assembly. However, other methods of securing the street furniture element to the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly are within the scope of the present invention. Thus, the street furniture element may be secured directly to the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly in use and thereby the street furniture element may be secured to the mounting plate via the base assembly. Alternatively, the street furniture element may be secured to the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly via an intermediate component.

The street furniture receiving portion may be an upstanding receiving portion in certain embodiments. The skilled person will appreciate that reference to "upstanding" is to be construed as meaning "upstanding in use".

The base assembly is secured in use to the mounting plate via the fixing element(s) of the base mounting portion. The base mounting portion suitably extends outwards (e.g. radially or laterally outwards) from the street furniture receiving portion and may include a flange portion. The, some of the, or all of the fixing elements may be apertures defined by the flange portion.

The polyurethane body of the base assembly may include one or more filler materials conventionally associated with elastomers. Such fillers may include carbon black and silica.

Additionally or alternatively, the polyurethane may include one or more reinforcing materials, such as glass fibres, carbon fibres or the like.

The polyurethane material provides desirable physical properties and demonstrates acceptable resistance to damage from environmental factors, such as liquids (organic and aqueous), light, weather, etc. In order to achieve a suitable balance between maintaining the item of street furniture in the desired configuration and orientation (e.g. substantially upright) in use and allowing it to be deflected in the event of an impact or sustained force, the polyurethane material from which the base assembly is formed suitably has a hardness of from 70 to 100 on the Shore A hardness scale. In certain embodiments of the invention, the polyurethane from which the base assembly is formed has a hardness from 80 to 90 on the Shore A hardness scale.

In an embodiment of the invention, the base assembly further includes an intermediate portion located between the street furniture receiving portion and the base mounting portion, wherein the intermediate portion has a width (e.g. a minimum width) which is greater than the corresponding width of the street furniture receiving portion, and the base mounting portion extends outwards (e.g. radially or laterally outwards) from the intermediate portion. The intermediate portion may have a substantially constant width/diameter and consequently a substantially constant cross-sectional shape or it may have a variable width, for example a width which increases from the street furniture receiving portion to the base mounting portion.

The skilled person will appreciate that the force required to deflect an item secured to the base assembly may be at least in part determined by the physical characteristics of the intermediate portion (e.g. shape, width/diameter, length, etc.). Similarly, the restorative force exerted by the base assembly when in a deflected configuration may also, at least in part, be determined by the physical characteristics of the intermediate portion.

The respective street furniture element may engage and be at least partially supported by a shoulder portion defined between the street furniture receiving portion and the intermediate portion of the base assembly. The shoulder portion may define a step change in the in the width of the base assembly between the street furniture receiving portion and the intermediate portion. Thus, the shoulder portion may extend radially outwards from the street furniture receiving portion to define a substantially planar annular shoulder surface. In use, the plane of the shoulder portion may be substantially parallel to the plane of the mounting plate to which the base assembly is secured (e.g. a horizontal plane). Alternatively, the shoulder portion may be sloped or inclined. An inclined shoulder portion is advantageous in preventing or minimising the risk of a bottom portion of the item of street furniture becoming trapped between the street furniture receiving portion and the intermediate portion when the base assembly is deflected. It should be appreciated that the sloped or inclined shoulder portion may be linear (i.e. the incline or slope defines a straight line) or it may be curved, such as concave, convex or bell-shaped.

The or each fixing element carried by the base mounting portion is suitably a hole, i.e. a through hole or bore extending through the base mounting portion. Such holes are adapted to receive therethrough a suitable fixing, such as a bolt, which may be used to secure the base assembly to the mounting plate. Each base assembly mounting location of the mounting plate may include one or more upstanding bolts corresponding to the holes extending through the respective base mounting portion or it may include through holes corresponding to the holes extending through the respective base mounting portion whereby a bolt or other fixing may pass through the aligned holes of the mounting plate and base mounting portion to secure the base assembly to the respective mounting location of the mounting plate.

Suitably, the holes of the base mounting portion are arranged as pairs of opposed holes. Thus, the holes may be circumferentially spaced around the base mounting portion such that each hole is diametrically opposed to its partner hole. In an embodiment of the invention, the holes are equally spaced circumferentially about the base mounting portion. In this way, the base assembly is better able to withstand deflection forces from any direction. It has been found that the greater the ratio of the distance between opposed holes of the base mounting portion to the diameter of the intermediate portion (where present) or the street furniture receiving portion, the greater the force that is experienced at one of the or several of the holes in the event of a deflection of the base assembly. Thus, it is desirable to minimise the distance by which the holes extend beyond the street furniture receiving portion/intermediate portion of the base assembly. In an embodiment of the invention, the base mounting portion includes an even number of fixing elements in the form of holes defined by a flange extending outwards from an intermediate portion or the street furniture receiving portion (as appropriate) and the holes are arranged about the flange as opposed pairs, and wherein the ratio between the width or diameter of the street furniture receiving portion/intermediate portion to the distance between a pair of opposed holes is from 1:1.1 to 1:25, suitably 1:1.1 to 1:2. In this way, the force experienced at one or more of the holes in the event of the base assembly being subjected to a deflecting force is minimised, while still allowing for access to the fixings located in use within the holes. In the context of the present invention, the width or diameter of the street furniture receiving portion or, where present, the intermediate portion, is measured parallel to a diameter between the opposed holes. Thus, the diameters are aligned with each other. Furthermore, the distance between a pair of opposed holes is considered to be the distance between the centres of the holes. The mounting plate may include one or more anchor elements. The anchor elements may include one or more ground anchors to help secure the mounting plate to the desired substrate (e.g. a road surface, an island surface or similar) or they may be elements which allow the mounting plate to be secured to a separate ground anchor component.

In order to further reinforce the base assembly against damage, the system may include a reinforcing plate secured to and/or embedded within the base assembly. Thus, a reinforcing plate may be located between the mounting plate and the base assembly, it may be embedded (partially or fully) within the body of the base assembly, and/or it may be located above the base mounting portion of the base assembly such that the base mounting portion is sandwiched between the mounting plate and a reinforcing plate.

In embodiments in which the base mounting portion of the base assembly defines a flange extending radially outwards from the street furniture receiving portion/intermediate portion, the reinforcing plate may be annular. An annular reinforcing plate may be located around the intermediate portion/street furniture receiving portion (i.e. the intermediate portion/street furniture receiving portion is located within the bore defined by the annular reinforcing plate) in order to reinforce the base mounting portion. In such embodiments, the reinforcing plate may include holes or bores corresponding to the holes which form the fixing elements of the base assembly.

Many lower portions of items of street furniture are adapted to be secured to base assemblies including a cylindrical post. Accordingly, the street furniture receiving portion of the present invention may be a substantially cylindrical post. However, a street furniture receiving portion comprising a post having a different cross-sectional shape is possible within the scope of the invention, including a post having a triangular, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, etc. cross-sectional shape. Similarly, the intermediate portion, where present, may have a cross-sectional shape as described above and the cross-sectional shape of the

intermediate portion may be the same as or different to the cross-sectional shape of the street furniture receiving portion. Thus, the street furniture receiving portion may comprise a substantially upstanding post. The street furniture receiving portion may include one or more securing elements to secure thereto the respective street furniture element. The or each securing element may comprise a hole (i.e. a through hole or a bore) defined through the street furniture receiving portion though which a fixing may be located wherein the fixing retains the street furniture element in a desired orientation relative to the base assembly.

The respective street furniture elements may be in the form of elongate blades. In such embodiments the system may include an intermediate component in the form of an extension member. The extension member suitably is received by and is coupled to the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly and extends upwards beyond the street furniture receiving portion. In this way, the extension member may be secured to the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly and the respective street furniture element may be secured to the extension member and optionally also to the base assembly. In embodiments in which the street furniture receiving portion is an upstanding post, the extension member suitably includes a corresponding shaped lower portion such that it is able to mate with the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly. The upper portion of the extension member may be shaped or configured to conform to a mating surface of the item of street furniture or it may have substantially the same shape and configuration as the lower portion of the extension member. In an embodiment of the invention, the street furniture receiving portion is an upstanding post and the extension member defines a tubular bore which is sized and configured to receive therein the upstanding post.

As noted above, the street furniture elements may be in the form of elongate blades. Such blades may have a substantially planar face.

The skilled person will appreciate that the term "street furniture" is intended to cover items such as traffic signs, traffic bollards, lane delineators, lights and so forth. However, it is not limited to roads and is also intended to cover signs, bollards, delineators, barriers, lights, etc. when used in alternative environments, such as railways and airports. Thus, "street furniture" in the context of the present invention includes any supported body adapted to be carried by a base assembly, which is typically upstanding, and which is at risk of being hit by a moving vehicle. The base assembly may be formed by providing a mould for the base assembly, locating within the mould a polyurethane pre-cursor material, and allowing or causing the polyurethane precursor material to cure in-situ to form a polyurethane polymer. Elastomers, such as polyurethane, typically comprise a precursor material, such as one or more monomers or non-vulcanised unsaturated rubber components, which is then reacted, chemically altered or vulcanised to achieve the final elastomeric product. The conversion of the precursor material into the final form of the elastomer is referred to herein as "curing". The curing step may include the addition of heat, pressure, a catalyst and/or a reactive component.

The mould suitably defines a street furniture receiving portion, a base mounting portion and, optionally, an intermediate portion as defined herein.

The polyurethane pre-cursor material is suitably cured by heat. Accordingly, the curing of the polyurethane pre-cursor material may include heating the mould with the polyurethane precursor material located therein.

The skilled person will appreciate that the features described and defined in connection with the aspects of the invention and the embodiments thereof may be combined in any combination, regardless of whether the specific combination is expressly mentioned herein. Thus, all such combinations are considered to be made available to the skilled person.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a street furniture system according to the invention; Figure 2a is a perspective view of an item of street furniture secured to a respective base assembly;

Figure 2b is an exploded view of the arrangement shown in Figure 2a;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the base assembly shown in Figure 2b;

Figure 4a is a perspective view of the street furniture system shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4b is a partially exploded view of the street furniture system shown in Figure 4a; Figure 5 is a perspective view of the mounting plate shown in Figures 4a and 4b; and Figure 6 is perspective view of a ground anchor for use with the mounting plate shown in Figure 5.

For the avoidance of doubt, the skilled person will appreciate that in this specification, the terms "up", "down", "front", "rear", "upper", "lower", "width", etc. refer to the orientation of the components as found in the example when installed for normal use as shown in the Figures.

Figure 1 shows street furniture system 2 comprising an array of three upstanding blades 4, each carried by a respective base assembly 102.

Figures 2a and 2b show an individual blade 4 and respective base assembly 102, detailing how the blade 4 is secured to the base assembly 102. The blade 4 comprises a substantially planar front surface 6 which may carry thereon indicia representing part of a roadsign system. Side portions 8 of the blade 4 are angled with respect to the front surface to provide the desired overall shape and a lower portion 10 of the blade 4 tapers inwards. The blade 4 is formed from HDPE (high density polyethylene).

As can be seen from Figure 2b, the base assembly 102 has an annular reinforcing ring 12 located over a base mounting portion thereof and the street furniture receiving portion receives thereover an extension tube 14 (i.e. the street furniture receiving portion is located in use within a central bore defined by the extension tube 14). The extension tube 14 is an extruded HDPE tube which has a length of about 655mm and the annular reinforcing ring 12 is formed from 3mm zinc plated steel. The base assembly 102 will be described in more detail hereinbelow with reference to Figure 3.

The blade 4 is secured about its midpoint to an upper portion of the extension tube 14 via a pair of bolts which extend through the blade and diametrically opposed holes formed through the extension tube 14. The bolts are secured via corresponding nuts and washers. At its lower portion, the blade 4 is secured to both a lower portion of the extension tube 14 and the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly 102. Diametrically opposed holes are formed in the lower portion of the extension tube 14 which align with corresponding holes formed through the street furniture receiving portion (described in more detail below) and bolts are located through the blade 4 and the aligned holes formed through the extension tube 14 and the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly 102.

Figure 3 shows a one-piece resiliently deformable base assembly 102 formed from a three component polyester-based polyurethane pre-cursor material sold under the trade name Diprane 530 and available from Dow Chemicals. The pre-cursor material includes a polyol component, an isocyanate component and a chain extending component. The formation of the base assembly 102 is described hereinbelow. The base assembly 102 comprises an intermediate portion 104 located between a base mounting portion in the form of a flange 106 which extends radially outwards from the bottom of the intermediate portion 104, and a street furniture receiving portion in the form of an upwardly projecting post 108. The base assembly 102 defines an inclined shoulder portion 110 such that the diameter of the base assembly 102 changes smoothly and constantly between the intermediate portion 104 and the narrower post 108. In this embodiment, the inclined shoulder portion 110 is angled at 45°.

In the embodiment shown, the change in diameter is constant which results in a linear shoulder portion 110. However, a non-linear change in diameter is also within the scope of the invention, such that the shoulder portion 110 is concave, convex or bell-shaped (i.e. including concave and convex portion).

The flange 106 defines therein four circumferentially spaced holes 112, which are arranged as opposed pairs. The holes 112 are sized and configured to receive therethrough a respective fixing which in turn secures the base assembly 102 to a mounting plate. The fixing is suitably a bolt which passes through the flange 106.

In this embodiment, the diameter of the intermediate portion 104 has a diameter of 60mm and the four holes 112 have a PCD (pitch circle diameter) of 86mm. Accordingly, the ratio of the width of the intermediate portion 104 to the distance between the centres of opposed holes 112 is 1:1.43. The upwardly projecting post 108 defines two mounting holes 114a, 114b that extend diametrically through the post 108.

An annular reinforcing plate (not shown) is embedded in the flange 106 of the base assembly 102. The reinforcing plate is formed from 5mm thick steel and the holes 112 pass through the reinforcing plate as well as the polyurethane body which forms the flange 106. The polyurethane body together with the embedded reinforcing plate forms a one-piece or monolithic body.

Figures 4a and 4b show the three blade/base assembly arrangements mounted on a mounting plate 16 and Figure 5 shows the mounting plate 16 by itself.

The mounting plate defines three base assembly mounting locations, wherein each mounting location is defined by an array of four upstanding mounting bolts 18 fixed to the mounting plate 16. The bolts 18 are arranged to align with the corresponding holes 112 defined by the flange 106 of the base assembly 102. The bolts 18 further align with corresponding holes formed in the annular reinforcing ring 12.

Each mounting location is spaced from its neighbouring mounting location by a distance which slightly greater than the width of the blade 4. This allows for adjacent blades 4 to be carried by the mounting plate 16 with a small gap between them.

The mounting plate 16 further includes four slots 20 defined therethrough at respective corner portions of the mounting plate 16. Figure 6 shows a ground anchor 22 comprising an anchor plate 24 and a pair of downwardly extending anchor elements 26. The downwardly extending anchor elements 26 are conveniently set into a cement foundation to prevent removal of the ground anchor 22 from the foundation. As can be seen from Figure 6, each anchor element 26 is secured to the anchor plate 24 via bolts which extend through the plate 24. The anchor element bolts align with the slots 20 defined by the mounting plate such that the mounting plate 16 may be arranged to overlie the anchor plate 24 and they may be secured to each other via the anchor element bolts which extend through the anchor plate 24 and through the slots 20 of the mounting plate 16. To mould the base assembly 102, appropriate quantities of each of the three components of the polyurethane pre-cursor material Diprane 530 (trade mark) are mixed together and poured into a mould (not shown) which has been pre-heated to about 85-90°C. The mould is maintained at about 85-90°C for about 30 -40 minutes after which time the outer surface of the assembly 102 has cured sufficiently that the base assembly 102 can be removed from the mould. After demoulding, the partially cured base assembly 102 is placed in an oven at about 80°C for 12-16 hours to cure fully.

It will be appreciated that different ratios of the three components will result in a polyurethane polymer having a different hardness on the Shore A scale. For example, a mixture of 111:12:100 by weight of polyol: chain extender: isocyanate will give a product having a hardness (Shore A) of 75; and a mixture of 78:13.5:100 by weight will give a product having a hardness of 85.

To assemble the street furniture system, the extension tube 14 is located over the upwardly projecting post 108 of the base assembly 102 and a respective blade 4 is secured to the extension tube 14 and the upwardly projecting post 108 via bolts located through the components as described above and secured in place via respective nut/washer arrangements.

Three of the thus assembled blade/base assembly units are then secured to respective mounting locations on the mounting plate 16 by locating the bolts 18 fixed to the mounting plate 16 through the corresponding holes 112 defined by each flange 106 and through the corresponding holes of the each annular reinforcing ring 12. A further nut/washer arrangement secures each base assembly 102 and associated annular reinforcing ring 12 to the mounting plate 16. The mounting plate 16 carrying the three base assemblies 102 and associated blades 4 is then located upon an anchor plate 24 of a ground anchor 22 which has been set in a concrete foundation. The upwardly projecting bolts of the anchor elements 26 are located within the slots 20 of the mounting plate 16 and the mounting plate is secured to the ground anchor via the bolts. It will be appreciate that the system described in detail herein comprises three blade/base assemblies. However, the mounting plate may define other numbers of mounting locations, such as two, four, five, six or more mounting locations. Similarly, alternative blades may be used with each base assembly.

Claims

1. A street furniture system comprising a mounting plate, a plurality of self-righting and self- fronting street furniture base assemblies and a plurality of street furniture elements, wherein the mounting plate defines two or more base assembly mounting locations, a base assembly is secured to each base assembly mounting location, and each base assembly supports a respective street furniture element; and wherein each base assembly is formed as a monolithic component from a polyurethane polymer and defines a base mounting portion and an elongate street furniture receiving portion projecting from the base mounting portion, the base mounting portion comprising one or more fixing elements via which each base assembly is secured to its respective mounting location.

2. A street furniture system according to Claim 1, wherein the polyurethane polymer of each base assembly has a hardness of from 70 to 100 on the Shore A scale.

3. A street furniture system according to Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein each base assembly further includes an intermediate portion located between the street furniture receiving portion and the base mounting portion, wherein the intermediate portion has a minimum width which is greater than the corresponding width of the street furniture receiving portion, and the base mounting portion extends outwards from the intermediate portion.

4. A street furniture system according to Claim 3, wherein a shoulder portion is defined between the street furniture receiving portion and the intermediate portion and the shoulder portion is inclined, curved or defines a step change in the width of the assembly between the street furniture receiving portion and the intermediate portion.

5. A street furniture system according to Claim 4, wherein the shoulder portion defines a progressive change in the width from the street furniture receiving portion to the intermediate portion and is linear, concave or convex.

6. A street furniture system according to any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the or each fixing element of the base assembly comprises a hole defined by the base mounting portion.

7. A street furniture system according to Claim 6, wherein the base assembly defines one or more pairs of opposed holes.

8. A street furniture system according to Claim 6 or Claim 7, wherein base mounting portion comprises a flange and the hole(s) are defined through the flange.

A street furniture system according to any of Claims 1 to 8, wherein the base mounting portion includes an even number of fixing elements in the form of holes defined therethrough, the holes are arranged about the base mounting portion as opposed pairs, and (i) the ratio between the width of the street furniture receiving portion to the spacing between a pair of opposed holes is from 1:1.1 to 1:25; or (ii) the base assembly further includes an intermediate portion located between the street furniture receiving portion and the base mounting portion, wherein the intermediate portion has a width which is greater than the corresponding width of the street furniture receiving portion, and the base mounting portion extends outwards from the intermediate portion, and the ratio between the width of the intermediate portion to the spacing between a pair of opposed holes is from 1:1.1 to 1:25.

10. A street furniture system according to any of Claims 1 to 9, wherein the system further includes a reinforcing plate secured to and/or embedded within the base assembly.

11. A street furniture system according to Claim 10, wherein the reinforcing plate is annular.

12. A street furniture system according to any of Claims 1 to 11, wherein the street furniture receiving portion of the base assembly comprises an upstanding post.

13. A street furniture system according to Claim 12, wherein the upstanding post has a

substantially circular cross-section.

14. A street furniture system according to Claim 12 or Claim 13, wherein the upstanding post defines one or more apertures therethrough.

15. A street furniture system according to any of Claims 12 to 14, wherein the system

includes an extension member secured to the upstanding post and the street furniture element is secured to the base assembly via the extension member.

16. A street furniture system according to any of Claims 1 to 15, wherein the street furniture element is in the form of a blade which has a substantially planar face.