Maplewoods, North Vancouver: a blue StreetBond decorative fire lane

The fire lane at the Maplewoods development in North Vancouver received a StreetBond® coating in Safety Blue: a specification that fulfils the functional fire access marking requirement while delivering a surface finish that reads as an intentional architectural element rather than industrial safety infrastructure.

Fire lanes in residential strata and multi-family developments present a recurring design challenge: the lane has to be clearly identifiable as a fire access route (BC fire code requirements are specific about marking), but the colouring required can visually disrupt an otherwise well-designed exterior environment.

What the photograph shows

The lede photograph looks down the lane between the townhomes and the property fence. The surface is three blues: a deep field, a mid-tone and a pale one, laid as broad, overlapping waves with white current lines running through them, so the lane reads as a river moving toward the buildings at the far end. A red hydrant stands at the edge of the coating, which is the one piece of conventional fire-lane colour on the site. The plain asphalt of the driveway meets the blue at a clean edge in the foreground. The project record holds a second frame.

Blue as a design solution

Safety Blue is increasingly the preferred fire lane colour specification for architects and developers who are thinking carefully about the exterior character of their buildings. Red fire lanes are the traditional specification, but blue reads as a more contemporary, architectural colour choice, one that works with the grey-and-glass aesthetic of modern strata buildings rather than fighting against it.

The Maplewoods installation demonstrates what this looks like in practice: a fire lane that is clearly identifiable and visually integrated into the building's exterior design language.

StreetBond for strata fire lanes

StreetBond is the appropriate product for a fire lane application because:

• The colour is consistent across the full surface: no patchwork from multiple application passes
• The finish is durable enough to withstand the occasional heavy vehicle use that fire lanes see (delivery vehicles, emergency apparatus)
• The aggregate surface provides traction in the wet North Shore conditions that this location experiences for most of the year
• The service life is measured in years, not seasons: the maintenance burden on the strata corporation is minimal

The system

Square One installs StreetBond under our decorative coatings service. The manufacturer's published facts: a water-based acrylic pavement coating for asphalt or concrete; more than 50 standard colours plus custom mixing, which is how a single lane gets three blues; an anti-skid aggregate for wet surfaces; a UV-stable finish; retroreflective options where the owner requires night visibility; and an 8+ year life cycle, refreshed rather than replaced. The StreetBond product page has the specification, and the streetscapes gallery shows the coating on lanes and courts, including a strata laneway in Squamish.

For a strata council or developer

• Settle the colour with the fire department first. The requirement is that the lane be identifiable; a blue the authority has approved reads as design, and one it hasn't is a repaint.
• Use the coating to mark the edge. Where the colour stops is where parking starts; a clean line, as at Maplewoods, does the job of a painted curb.
• Keep the surface clear of the landscape schedule. The coating needs a dry, clean substrate and a cure window; book it before the planting, not after.

Beautiful blue StreetBond on a North Vancouver fire lane. It's one of those applications where form and function are genuinely the same thing.

For BC developers and strata corporations specifying fire lane surfaces, send a photo of the lane and a postal code to office@squareonepaving.com, call 604-612-6209, or use the contact form. We come out, look, and put a written quote together.