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Introduction

The most familiar crowd control barrier in the world – the retractable tape barrier – was invented in 1976.

It is now ubiquitous; in use in virtually every country and territory where there is a need to channel and direct people: from airport terminals to banks, museums, stadia, awards ceremonies, theatres and more.

Retractable tape replaced a variety of crowd control techniques, such as rope barriers, which were awkward and often ineffective at a time when crowds were becoming much more frequent, in many more places.

In April 1976, David Hodge, consultant designer to the British Airports Authority (BAA), was asked to come up with a new idea for directing crowds. The design needed to be self-contained with no loose parts; easy to store and deploy; and offer a long length of barrier at a constant height.

He experimented with spring-loaded recoiling rope and tape, where the barrier was rewound into the support using springs taken from devices such as tape measures and vacuum cleaners.

The eureka moment came when his [business?] partner, Jane Lacy, was, appropriately enough, taking a bath at their studio overlooking Shepherds Bush Green in London. Pondering on retracting devices, she suggested seat belts. David began sketching his invention, which has evolved to become the global phenomenon it is today, almost invisible in its familiarity.

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The retractable queue barrier (image1) was invented and designed in 1976 by British designer David Hodge, of David Hodge Associates. He had graduated from St. Martins, Central and The Royal College of Art, London, just two years earlier(2).

The concept of a retractable barrier followed design research for the first of three phases of an airport ancillary furniture design project. The new furniture and equipment designs were to be used as a standard range for the then seven BAA airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Prestwick). The phase one design brief (3 and 4) received on 31 March 1976 from Jane Priestman, BAA General Manager Design and Architecture, listed five initial product categories, one of which was Temporary barriers – internal.

Hodge’s research, (5 to 13) showed that at airports, museums and retail centres in the UK and abroad there was a variety of temporary barriers in use: post and rope; metal expandable (like old lift/elevator gates); folding barriers in all manner of materials; plastic planks and cones; and many tubular metal designs, some combined with fabric, others extending like a trombone.

Existing barriers had problems such as:

• Untidy appearance

• Loose parts that could be lost or become trip hazards

• Limited rope length

• Inconsistent barrier heights

• Easily moved by public

• Being difficult to clean

• Finger traps and sharp edges

• Storage difficulties

• Length inflexibility

• Lacking in authority

• Inappropriate for a modern airport

Managers found it necessary to use a mixed variety of barriers as their airports became busier during the late sixties and early seventies, a time when when security was becoming a major issue. They needed to direct and help, look after, organise and control ever-increasing numbers of passengers for ticket sales, check-in, safety and security.

At their office on Shepherds Bush Green, London, Hodge and Lacy prepared sketch designs for the five separate product categories in the brief, one of which was the temporary barriers. (20 and 21). Research and proposals were presented in Interim Design Report on 7 May 1976 (14 to 19)

Their proposals for passenger control included hard barriers – forceful, safe, preventative – and soft barriers: flexible, personal, consensual.

For the soft barrier design, Hodge and Lacy produced the first concept drawings of the now ubiquitous retractable crowd control barrier. This offered many advantages over available products.

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These included:

• Adjustable width

• Individual barrier length up to 2.3 metres

• Barriers easily joined

• Constant height, regardless of distance between posts

• Self-contained

• Easily transported

• No loose parts

• Easily stored and tidy when not in use

• Quick and simple to deploy

• Multi-directional

• Layout easily changed

• Adaptable to crowd size and control needs

• Looks authoritative

• Sleek, modern appearance

The original drawings (22 and 23) were first shown on 21 May to Priestman and BAA External Relations Head Dominic Leahy, who noted, “the soft barrier idea is very good”.

Developed design drawings for all five products were presented on 13 July to Sir Norman Payne, BAA chief executive, who said “the soft barrier was good, an immediate demand, stability may be a problem”.

The designs were then shown to managers of the seven BAA airports on 20 July, who said that the soft barrier concept was a “good idea, but the mechanical components, children and stability could be a problem”.

For board approval of the retractable barrier concept, now called Tape Barrier, Hodge presented design drawings (24 and 25) and models of the barrier including a 1:10 scale airport concourse scene of the designs (26 and 27) to the BAA Executive Board Meeting on 22 July.

The minutes record that the Tape Barrier idea was “well worth developing” and state, “'''The designer’s proposal for posts with individually controlled extending tapes was approved. Experimental designs to be produced for trials at South East and Scottish Airports as soon as possible.”'''

Hodge produced full size models and the first two working prototypes. On 6 December he took the prototypes (29, 30, 31 and 32) to show Payne in his office.

On seeing the first working prototype Payne stood up from behind his desk and said “get it ready for Edinburgh” – during the Silver Jubilee Year visit to Edinburgh in May 1977 a new airport passenger terminal was to be opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In January 1977, for a production quantity of the barrier, Hodge obtained prices from manufacturers for the spring mechanism. He called Beckett Laycock & Watkinson “Beclawat” (1976 brochure (33) and (34)) and was advised to speak to subsidiary company Tensator, who manufactured spring components used in seat belts, cable and hose reels, and spring window balances used in London taxi cabs, (1976 brochure(35) and (36)).

On 12 January Hodge took his design prototype to Tensator in Newport Pagnell to discuss the spring requirement for the barriers at Edinburgh Airport. The next day Tensator suggested he used their Hi Start power spring. Three days later, David Hodge married Jane Lacy and moved to Kings Road, Chelsea.

On 7 February, Tensator expressed an interest in making the whole barrier, not just the spring. On 18 February they quoted £40 for each barrier. BAA placed an order on 4 March for the first 40 barriers (38). They were to be delivered to Edinburgh Airport in time for the opening of the new terminal.

Following negotiations between BAA and Tensator to supply the Tape Barrier to all seven BAA airports and discussions about the potential market beyond BAA, a contract and licence was agreed. On 30 March it was decided to change the name to Tensabarrier. On 25 April, a further batch was ordered for the new passenger terminal at Aberdeen Airport, while at Newport Pagnell a small roped-off area of the Tensator factory was dedicated to Tensabarrier production. BAA lodged a patent application for the Extensible Barrier on 29 April.

On 25 May, Hodge and Lacy’s barrier design was on public display for the first time during the press launch of the new Edinburgh Airport and its opening by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 27 May (39, 40, 41 and 42).

The product was developed further as the other six BAA airports were supplied. The retractable barrier was beginning to be seen and a wider demand was being created. A launch brochure and advertisements were produced to capitalise on the developing interest in the product (43, 44, 45 and 46)

On 7 February 1979 the barrier received a Design Council Award (47). A press launch was held on 26 April at The Design Council in London (48, 49, 50, 51 and 52).

At a ceremony in London on 13 June, HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, presented Sir Norman Payne, Chairman BAA, and David Hodge with the award.

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Award for Tensabarrier, designed by David Hodge for British Airports Authority, design manager Jane Priestman. (53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58 and 59).

The chairman of the judges, David Gentleman, described David Hodge’s idea as “a brilliant adaptation of existing technology”

During the 1980s the barrier was developed further to suit the growing demand and wider markets. In 1981 it was first introduced to the USA. An initial 200 barriers were sent from Tensator, Newport Pagnell, to Lawrence Metals of New York, see letters ( 60 ) and ( 61).

With development of barrier products, the queue control business grew and in both 1994 and 1997 Tensator were awarded the Queen’s Award for export achievement. During the 2000s Homeland Security in the USA greatly increased demand. Around the world the design of the retractable barrier was being reproduced, in essentially the same form as the original 1976 Hodge design (22) and (23), by many different manufacturers including; Barrier2go, Beltrac Lavi, Brandline,  Evertop Industries, Guideline Barrier Direct, Grainger Barriers, Global Sorces, Guangzhou Max, QM Group, Skipper, Savekers Ltd, Slimline Q-line AU, StanchionDepot, Tasmin Corporation USA, Xtracs Ltd, in addition to Tensator. In 2008 the Tensator Group, by then including Lawrence Metal Products as its US subsidary, was acquired by The Riverside Company of New York, their business now dedicated to customer space management with sales around the world from offices in several countries.

By 2016, the 40th anniversary of the original idea, retractable/extensible barriers were in use in nearly every country in the world.

A global barrier industry, supporting many manufacturers and spin off queue management industries, is based on the original design concept and prototypes (22) and (23) that Hodge invented.

The utilitarian design has proved even more versatile:

In the 1980s Hodge’s design company, Hodge & Partners, during their redesign of the UK’s 1,500-strong Crown Post Office network were involved in Post Office Counters Limited’s development of new queue management techniques, including the idea of the single retail queue (62). The single queue concept with a call forward sign introduced has become normal practice in most multi-till banks and retail outlets.

An interesting and unexpected application of the product occurred at Tate Liverpool UK, with Tantamount 2005, an installation by sculptor Richard Wentworth (63).

The only advance on the original tape design in 40 years is in fiction. In the sci-fi movie I Robot, set in the year 2035, (at 12 minutes into the film) Chicago detective Spooner (Will Smith) inspects a corpse on the atrium floor of US Robot Corporation’s head office tower. As usual, the corpse is fenced off behind a tape-barrier police line, but, instead of webbing the tapes are created using yellow laser holograms (64).

Hodge’s design has solved everyday barrier requirements millions of times over the last 40 years at transport terminals, retail outlets, hotels (65), presidential visits (66), or at the Olympics Games in London (67) and RIO 2016 (68, and 69) – where some 15,000 retractable barriers were used.

As Gary Shaw, Customer Service Assistant, at the Holborn London Underground, put it to Hodge (70 and 71) London Underground “could not live without it, a great thing, put one of those out and everybody understands it, does not matter where they are from, would be lost without it” – an international language.