Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1385297
18 | J U N E 2 0 2 1 Landscape Products Granger is hardly the only landscaping professional to voice this sentiment. "Everything for us got steadily busier since last March and continues this year, to the point where we're using all of our energy just to keep up – no time to develop new products," says Vito Lore, Canadian sales manager for Mutual Materials. Not only does Mutual Materials supply a comprehensive array of masonry products (with the interlocking Eco-Priora Permeable Pavers for high-traffic areas being the company's fastest-growing segment), it works with designers and developers of the residential, commercial, and institutional sectors to solve problems. This is crucial to the success of any landscaping, not only to achieve the vision of the designer, but to facilitate unexpected changes when a specified material proves to be unfeasible and an alternative product must be selected. "The development of outdoor spaces as living areas is ongoing, and pavers play a substantial role in making that happen. Most satisfyingly, people have discovered that creating such spaces doesn't necessarily require a big capital outlay: 16 by 16 pavers combined with a retaining wall and garden beds of small retaining wall blocks can totally transform a space and is well within many budgets – especially considering that the price for other materials, most notably wood, is skyrocketing," says Lore. Julia Ryan, business development manager for B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan at Landscape Forms Inc., describes 2021 as grateful for being so "amazingly busy" and her company as "industry innovators that tend to win many awards for the products we manufacture, due to liv- ing up to our motto of 'design, culture, and craft.'" Landscape Forms is an industry leader in integrated solutions of high-design site furniture, advanced LED lighting, structure, and custom environments. For more than 50 years it has developed and created solutions that help designers and other clients achieve beautiful, functional land- scapes – the latest example being a seating and LED lighting collection called Typology, in partnership with Designworks, a BMW Company. In Western Canada, Landscape Forms' custom group has been responsible for supplying hardscape furnishings for high-profile projects such as the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and the Calgary Riverwalk, and currently it is work- ing to manufacture custom benches for the new Valley Line LRT in Edmonton. Basalite Concrete Products has been used in a huge variety of projects, with its Precision-Smooth product deployed at no less than Rogers Arena when that facility was developed to replace Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum. Its masonry, pavers, and retaining walls are supported by cements, concrete admixes, sands, stucco, and many other supporting materials. A considerable amount of care in design and manufacture is what distinguishes Basalite products. One example is its Artisan Slate Premier Series paver, which fulfills the current preference for alternating size pavers. This series was designed to provide a bold paver solution with the highest of flexibility in design patterns: each paver features subtle textures that impart the look of real stone, com- bined with the strength and durability of an interlocking paving stone. To address water runoff concerns, Basalite's permeable pavement systems help reduce stormwater runoff and increase usable space, while maintaining esthetic quality. Their interlocking joints can support heavy vehicular loads and can be used in a variety of applications (the systems can also contribute to LEED credits depending on how they are used on site). This paver is produced and palletized in a herringbone pattern and can be machine or hand installed. Ease of use combined with beauty also define Basalite's retaining walls, with the popular Geowall Series being one example: this system features an open core design and high strength pin connections, and each block face measures one square foot for easy calculation. The lighter weight and shorter tail design make it easy to handle for installers, and Geowall can be used by itself for short gravity walls or in combination with geogrid for taller structural earth walls. It's proving to be a busy year for Barkman Concrete: the company is estab- lishing a new plant in Merritt, B.C. (scheduled to open in 2022), and its paving stones, slabs, and other hardscape products are "in high demand," according to marketing supervisor Peegy Ontong. Ontong goes on to note that, "We've also launched a new paving stone, Fjord, that has the texture and colour of slate, as well as a new fire pit and site furnish- ings such as a precast concrete ping pong table that is ideal for sites such as municipal parks." Eco-Priora Permeable Pavers from Mutual Materials. Artisan Slate Premier Series paver from Basalite Concrete Products.