City of Valkeakoski
The city of Valkeakoski has introduced Cliff® benches in various parts of the city, such as in the Juusonniitty and Juusonranta areas and at carpet cleaning locations. One bench has also found its place in the school yard. The table-bench groups that were in the Juusonniitty house exhibition will be moved to the city's playgrounds.
A tour of Tampere's carpet cleaning locations convinced the people of Valkeakoski
The story of Valkeakoski's Cliff® furniture began when Image Wear's development director Kati Tukiainen contacted Valkeakoski City's landscape designer Sanna Nieminen and told her that Image Wear had composite products made from discarded work clothes and recycled plastic. Kati sent pictures of the products, and Sanna and her colleague went to meet Kati at Image Wear's Tampere office. "We fell in love with the bench and table group in the office yard. Kati gave us a list of benches in Tampere, and we went around to carpet cleaning places to check them out. We found that the benches are nice and quite sturdy," recalls Sanna, recalling her first introduction to Cliff® benches.
You can admire the lake scenery from the bench at the Sointula carpet cleaning place.
Benches for carpet cleaners and residents of Juusonniitty
The city of Valkeakoski ordered benches for carpet cleaning stations and the Juusonniitty residential area. Carpet cleaners can rest during their cleaning breaks at the Eerola, Kärjenniemi, Roukonperä, Sointula and Leppälä carpet cleaning stations. During the bench tour on the interview day, the carpet cleaning stations were quiet, as the rainy weather had driven the carpet cleaners away to wait for sunnier days.
The Kärjenniemi carpet cleaning place was quiet on a rainy day
There are four benches in the new residential area of Juusonniitty and one bench is located in Juusonranta. The bench on the meadow mound in Juusonniitty was originally facing the residential area, but the bench has been turned so that it can now be used to follow traffic. The benches are not light, so several people must have been rotating the bench in the direction of the road.
Sanna Nieminen and the bench in Juusonniitty that was hit by seagulls
An extra bench that was in storage found its place at Tietola School to replace an old, broken bench. This new bench is so sturdy that it won't break easily.
The benches were delivered assembled, so installation was easy once the groundwork was done. The city of Valkeakoski had its own installer for the table-bench groups. The benches and table-bench groups were installed in July just before the opening of the Juusonniitty house exhibition, although the asphalting work slightly limited the schedule. The table-bench groups were only in Juusonniitty for the duration of the house exhibition and are now in storage awaiting transfer to the city of Valkeakoski playgrounds.
Close-up of the bench at the Leppälä carpet cleaning station
Ecological benches suit the nature of Juusonniitty
The ecological nature of the recycled composite benches suits the nature of the Juusonniitty residential area. Juusonniitty became known at the housing fair Talonäyttely 2024, which presented affordable residential construction. The theme of the area is naturalness. “Ecologicality is evident, among other things, in the construction, green areas and meadows, which attract insects. The area also has an insect hotel, for which a local metal company made the frame and the city’s own staff decorated the interior. There is a green roof on top of the insect hotel to attract the little bugs. The meadow mound, which acts as a noise barrier in the area, is made from the earthworks left over from the construction of the Juusonniitty area,” says Sanna Nieminen.
The city of Valkeakoski has not yet received any feedback about the benches, but the city's own staff has been surprised by how sturdy and sturdy the benches are and that they are made from work clothes.