Central Retail Park | Milton Keynes

The totem signs also had an issue that we have come across many times working on retail park signage. Since the signage had been installed when the site had been constructed the trees located around the perimeter had since grown to a size that meant visibility of the totem signs was very limited. This can often be overcome by carrying out some gentle pruning of foliage but on this site with the pure volume of trees and the location of the totem signs this wasn’t a practical option. To overcome the issue and allow for better visibility, the totem signs needed to be relocated some distance from their original locations.

In additional to the trees the main totem sign is located down a 3m bank away from the main road carriageway. To allow for visibility of all tenants the totem needed to be at least 10M in height and have a ‘v’ shape as it is facing onto a main roundabout. The second totem needed to be at least 7.5M in height as it is set away from the main road and double sided for visibility.

Design options were submitted to our client and the agreed design and locations were submitted by us and approved by the local planning authority.

Once planning was approved we completed groundworks for the new totem signs which included the installation of large concrete foundations. Both totem signs were illuminated so we installed new power supply cabling from the original locations to the new.

Given the size of the existing totem signs and the new replacements we had to utilize specialist low loader HIAB transportation and a separate crane to remove the existing and lift the new into position.

Both totem signs comprised of internal mild steel sub-frames with individual powder coated aluminium cladding panels, stencil cut park name with opal acrylic, folded aluminium tray signs with digitally printed tenants logos and a decorative edging strip internally illuminated via LED lighting. Floor mounted LED floodlights were also installed beside both totems for extra illumination.

The overall finish and new locations has significantly improved the appearance of the site.