Written by Barkman Concrete Published on April 18th, 2017
Technology has made the world a smaller place. Companies are now in the backyard of market places thousands of miles away, with the simple click of a mouse. Things that were once unique to a certain regions of the world, are now becoming international overnight. With this comes ever-evolving markets, where competition is fierce and companies are striving to differentiate themselves from one another. The hardscapes industry is no different. Gone are the days of companies solely succeeding by introducing and in turn producing generic coloured shapes of concrete for those customers in their geographic region. Now more than ever, the market place has begun to dictate the direction of the industry. As such, companies must be willing to adapt and innovate. To continue its position as a leader in the hardscape industry in Western Canada, we at Barkman Concrete understand that listening to the needs and wants of our customers and providing viable solutions based upon their valued feedback, is key to growth.
Within the last couple of years, conversations have arose in meetings and boardrooms throughout Western Canada, where those within the design community have stated that “they wished there was a large-scale paver and/or slab that was available to them”. Often, references would be made about European companies who are ahead of the game by including these products within their product offerings. Times are changing and architects more than ever are now specifying larger, more dynamic pieces to add to commercial spaces. Up to now, the industry did not have anything even close to this magnitude and the project would end up being poured in place concrete. And for hardscape contractors, this became a problem. Many contractors are trained and have the experience to lay paving systems- but not to pour concrete. Understanding that our customers’ needs were not being met, we at Barkman Concrete took it upon ourselves to fill the void in the market place. What began with numerous research trips to Germany, turned into several strategic planning meetings with our product development, research and development and senior management teams.
Fast forward to 2017 and we at Barkman Concrete are thrilled to announce the addition of a ‘900 x 900 x 100 mm’ and ‘900 x 450 x 100 mm’ slabs into our Broadway – Large Format Paving Family. These 2 new products provide an advantage for contractors to start bidding jobs where large format paving systems are being asked or to even act as an alternate for specific applications. It is incredibly easy to lay these on site with our vacuum plates.
Another advantage of our Large Format paving system is that they work within our existing Broadway family, so this is the paving system to use in creating a visually stunning space with multiple pieces. There is nothing on the market in North America to our knowledge that has a paving system this big. This is a great opportunity to install almost 10sq.ft with the press of a single button and create endless modern design and application possibilities.