Mathew Haslam

Founding Director, Hardscape Products

Mathew Haslam (CMLI) is the Founding Director of Hardscape. Combining a background in business and a passion for geology, Mathew founded Hardscape in 1994 to bridge the gap between natural resources, man-made materials and cutting-edge design.

Creating safer public spaces that combine access for cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles within the urban environment has been an ultimate passion of his for over 30 years. Whilst spending time in Europe, particularly Holland, he became fascinated by their way of providing solutions for inclusive infrastructure; this completely aligned with his own thoughts and ambition to adopt the same infrastructure for Active Travel here in the UK using a system of kerbs and other accessories to allow intelligent and safe space sharing of people, bikes and vehicles.

Mathew, through Hardscape, strives to protect and enhance the paving industry’s current and future demands, educating others on hard landscaping and sustainable sourcing, while realising ever-increasing aesthetic demands and functions within the designed landscape environment.

My Speaker Sessions

Thursday 08 June 2023

14:55

Actively Dutch

14:55 - 15:20 Active Travel
  • Hardscape’s Founding Director, Mathew Haslam, shares his passion of the systematic approach of the ‘Dutch Way’ of providing ‘Duurzaam Velig’ (Sustainable Safety).
  • Combining functionality, homogeneity, predictability and ‘forgiveness’ by using form and function of paving and associated elements, they create a language of change in habit and non-inclusive practices by removing the dominance of the car.
  • As the demand to reach those same goals begins to reach across Europe - is the UK ready to go Dutch?