Information for publishers and press
You are free to publish the high res pictures (below) or use the copy here to create an article about painting Coventry's ring road providing:
1. You ask people to give their opinion at www.timetoshine .co.uk/paintcoventry - public opinion is key to this project
2. Contact Shine Design Ltd on 0845 652 03 05 for approval prior to publication
3. The article credits 'Shine Design'
<<<< PRESS RELEASE >>>>>
---BEGINS---
PAINT COVENTRY! Reason or utter madness?
What do Coventry people see every day, and what do visitors to the City remember most?
People love it and people hate it, but the RING ROAD is undeniably Coventry's gateway. The contemporary City moat... or the circle of concrete that strangles the City centre? The ring road was built between 1962 and 1974, a dual carriageway just under two miles in circumference, and as famous as it is infamous.
Is this the most interesting ring road in the country? Or the tarmac equivalent of a terrifying fairground ride? The route is a tribute to the sixties and an age of concrete, a frenzy of flyovers, underpasses and short sliproads to encircle the city centre with nine numbered junctions with almost no distance between them.
In a revolutionary idea to brighten up our City, a Warwickshire graphic design company wants to paint it! Shine Design says that if feasible, painting key vertical concrete surfaces on the Ring Road would be so effective, that the result would change Coventry as we know it!
Says director Jon Foster-Smith:
"When Shine first came here from gridlocked Oxford, we saw the Ring Road was great for getting about - it seems to keep things moving, even if the junctions are frightening at first. But all that grey concrete is so depressing...
He went on:
"Last summer, one of our designers came home from Greece. Lots of beautiful buildings there are made of concrete, and as he joined the Ring Road, he started to think about the difference a coat of paint makes.
If every person around Coventry would benefit from a brighter more attractive city, what better, cheaper or more effective way than this?"
Here's how it might be done:
• Choosing key vertical surfaces to paint for a big effect within a small budget
• Special paint is cleaned by rain and resists graffitii
• Painting and then maintaining a little bit at a time would avoid disruption - just like the Forth Road Bridge!
• Adding advertising to new surfaces could fund the project
Madness or reason?
Visit www.timetoshine.co.uk/paintcoventry to express your view.
---ENDS---
---NOTES FOR EDITORS---
Shine is a design company that creates logos and builds brands through print and websites. Currently in its ninth year, the company expanded to the Coventry area when one of the designers moved to Warwickshire in 2004. Shine is an active member of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and Kenilworth Chamber of Trade.
We currently have a meeting planned with Councillor Kevin Foster and the Highways team at the Council offices once feasibility of the project has been assessed. Reaction both by the press and the public has been extraordinary.
---CONTACT---
Jon Foster-Smith, Shine Design Ltd
37 New Street, Kenilworth, CV8 2EY
Mulberry Court, Crown Road, Wheatley, Oxford OX33 1UL
T: 0845 652 03 05 |
