A Guide to Decorative Bollard Installation

What type of bollard mounting will work best for you?

Decorative bollards may be chosen as complementary furnishings that enhance the landscape around buildings. Still, bollards are specified for their functionality: they guide traffic, create perimeters, protect pedestrians and plazas, define bike lanes, and create variable access spaces. Bollards do not block pedestrian or bike traffic while they prevent vehicle access, which means that, unlike fences or jersey barriers, they don’t create bottlenecks. Their low profile and decorative elements also don’t block sightlines. Form and function come together when choosing these useful site furnishings.

A bollard’s intended function will determine what kind of mounting option it should have. The same decorative bollard may be placed on different types of mounts depending on the job the bollard is expected to do. Here’s a simple guide to types of mounts you might consider for your decorative bollards.

Decorative Security Bollards

Decorative security bollards can be confusing to order. They are ordered in a two-bollard system, with an outer and inner bollard installed together. Both the outer decorative bollard and the inner steel pipe bollard can stand-alone, and are therefore each properly bollards, and not just mountings or covers.

The outer layer is a decorative bollard, which is not always installed over steel pipes. You can install a decorative bollard on a variety of mounts, as its own bollard, and so it is not just a cover, sleeve, or finish.

Steel pipe bollards can be painted: because they can also stand alone, they are not just used as mountings.

However, placing a decorative bollard over a security bollard elevates the look of the installation, taking it from industrial to refined.

There are two types of inner steel pipe bollards that can be used as mountings for decorative bollards:

Decorative Removable Bollards

Most of our decorative bollards are quite heavy, made of cast iron or steel. Removable installations are designed for occasional access, like letting in emergency vehicles or occasional maintenance vehicles. (Our contemporary and stainless offerings are often lighter and more amenable to many access changes per day.)

Economy mounts for the decorative bollard group sit above the surface. They can be a trip hazard if not removed or covered: they are easiest to use in installations where a bollard may be removed, driven past, and replaced, although they can be unbolted from the ground.

Premium mounts retract into the substrate and allow for free movement across the surface with no additional work.

Decorative Fixed Bollards

Fixed bollards are not expected to move. They’re affixed to the surface with the expectation that vehicles will not need to drive through their perimeter. However, they are not generally impact-protective (excepting the Martello); instead, they guide, communicating the intended use of the space.

Decorative bollards offer a way to guide and manage traffic while enhancing your landscape or building. Our cast iron and steel bollards offer a weighty profile in classical styles that bring a touch of ornamentation to perimeters. A variety of mounting options can be used around a perimeter, with the same decorative cover providing an identical look over top. Use this guide while designing to choose what mountings work best for your site’s needs!