Farnborough Park is a prestigious resident’s estate in the heart of Kent with beautiful houses and tranquil, peaceful surroundings. However with increased traffic flow on the two neighbouring ‘A’ roads and the opening of the Princess Royal University Hospital in 2004, members of the public found the unsecured estate to be an effective short cut or place to park their vehicles. Although manual gates were located at both the Estates entrances, this system was reliant on volunteers to operate the gates, which would become tougher to achieve on a more frequent or daily basis.

With an increasing amount of crime hitting the estate and an ever growing cost to refurbish the roads being damaged by unwanted visitors, Farnborough Park Estates residents decide to look for a security system which would only allow residents or other authorized visitors access to the estate.

After researching many security products on the market, the Farnborough Park Estate Ltd awarded Frontier Pitts with the contract to supply and install a heavy-duty Road Blocker system with traffic lights and control cabinet at both the entrances. Each system comprised of two ‘Parking height’ model Road Blockers, both with a lifted height of 353mm, one for access to the site and the other for egress. Frontier Pitts Road Blocker was the chosen product as their system had the ability to fail lower, whereas their competitors’ equipment remained in the current position at time of power fail.

The Access & Control system for the Road Blockers was also important and had to fulfill all the requirements set by the thousand residents. The residents would need to access the park freely at any time of day and night without hindrance. The system had to be relatively simple, whilst allowing a speedy route.  A VHF Radio control system was employed to permit entry and exit from the site, with a vehicle induction loop system either side of the road blocker to ensure the units rises safely once a vehicle has passed over the ground sensors.

However residents were not the only authorized traffic that needed to access to the park. Visitors, guests, trades and delivery persons, Utility Services and the Emergency Services would also need to gain access through the road blocker system. To suit all the requirements an intercom system which had the ability to contact the house the visitor was visiting through a standard BT phone line was employed, with a digital keypad allowing all other authorized traffic access.

The complete system was standalone ensuring that it did not require further guarding and expenditure. The result has been superb with a reduction in traffic of up to 71%. Mr. Barry Hall, Director of Farnborough Park Estate Ltd added “people come and visit the Estate to see the system in operation as it really does work”.
 
Road Blockers and Rising Kerbs are designed to offer an impact-resistant barrier to vehicle access and are well suited to ‘High Security’ sites. Such installations range from car parks through to anti-terrorist protection of defense installations. There are five models of Road Blockers available; starting with the ‘SMT’ Surface mounted Road Blocker which requires minimal civil works. The ‘Parking’ Road Blocker is manufactured with a lifted height of 353mm, the ‘Security’ Road Blocker with a lifted height of 533mm, and the ‘Special Lift Height’ Road Blocker with a lifted height of 800mm. Frontier Pitts has also recently introduced their fifth model to their range of Road Blockers called the ‘Terra Blocker’ with a lifted height of 810mm. This model is part of the Anti-Terra range which was successfully crash tested to withstand an impact by a 7,500kg lorry traveling at 80km/hour.

The Road Blocker is a rugged underground rising kerb which is hydraulically powered for reliability and strength, and can manufactured in lengths of up to 4000mm. The unit consists of two major parts; the base unit and the rising lid. The base unit is manufactured from heavy gauge steel channel, and contains a number of sealed-for-life ball bearings. The rising lid section is a welded fabrication of heavy gauge steel channel upon which the chequer plate road sections are bolted. The curved perimeter skirt of the Road Blocker is made from a mild steel sheet, and the higher lift versions are fitted with a patented double-lift skirt. A heavy gauge, mild steel angle trimmer frame is installed in the second pour of the concrete foundations, with Spragg tie bars fitted to ensure fixing. The Road Blocker is finished with a scratch resistant, alkyd paint finish. The standard finish is chevron style yellow and black stripes.

The electrical and hydraulic control systems are contained within a weatherproof control cabinet which is mounted upon a separate foundation near the Road Blocker. Accessories available for the Road Blocker are manual release valves, which in an event of a power fail the manual hand pump can be used to raise and lower the unit. Frontier Pitts also highly recommend installing traffic lights with all Road Blocker systems, to ensure the driver of the vehicle is aware when it is safe to proceed.

The Road Blocker /Rising Kerb, as with all Frontier-Pitts products, is entirely designed and built in Britain to the most stringent international standards.