The Centurion - A History of Garden Sheds
Was the Centurion Shed the first Secured By Design-approved garden shed?
The Gladiator shed - Designed by Danny Gilmartin 2002
The Centurion represents a turning point in the history of Asgard and Garden sheds in general. Our Centurion Garden Shed range was the first Police Preferred Specification Garden shed in Britain (so we believe). We still don’t think there are any others out there at the time of writing (?). Many other manufacturers claim to be approved, but look closely, and it's the locks that are approved, not the shed. The difference is, our SHEDs are tested and don't require additional 3rd party locks, that's what makes Asgard sheds unique.
The 1st Centurion Garden Storage Shed Here
Why did we design a Secured By Design Garden Shed over 20 years ago?
Simple, we had a great idea and thought it was worth pursuing. Garden theft has always been a problem. Gone are the days of just a spade and a rake in a shed. Now, a typical garden shed is full of electrical equipment, with the estimated cost of goods in sheds at 14.9 billion!! We decided to make the most secure (domestic) shed on the market, which was affordable, easy to build, and didn't look like a huge shipping container, which is exactly what we did.
A shed designed over 20 years ago
Now with a design over 20 years old, the Centurion represents a typical Asgard product, 100% thought of, designed, and made by Asgard.
The original idea and design was thought up by one of our leading engineers, “Danny”. Danny actually left the Asgard family shortly after creating some of these ground-breaking Asgard products. But Danny's Asgard story did not end when he upped sticks and moved overseas…. After many years away, Danny now lives in Sweden and runs Asgard Sweden, our overseas partner. Asgard Sweden
“I had a brief to design the most secure domestic shed we could make in our factory, using our original Parker box shed as a starting point. The shed has been designed to be 100% Asgard-made and a home assembly product, yet very secure. I think the certifications speak for themselves. We did it in a very clever way; the sheds were designed around our existing machinery, making the original sheds unique to us. Obviously, a few decades on, there are now plenty of copycats around” - Danny - Asgard
Groundbreaking Original Garden Shed Design
The Centurion was a groundbreaking piece of design and still looks good today. We have units over 20 years old, still looking like new, with the same locks, hinges, and panels from the day of manufacture. The Centurion range has been designed to be extendable, thanks to our extension modules, you just keep adding sections... the shed gets bigger and bigger. Did we mention, all the sheds had ventilation built into the design, reducing shed condensation - the true holy grail of shed design.
Garden Storage for life
We have not really changed from that original design; it was so good. In the last few years, we upgraded the hinges to stainless steel for extra longevity, and over the years, we have varied the paint texture a little and used more environmentally friendly processes. As we are always conscious of our environmental impact, we only use the cleanest materials in our manufacturing plant.
Is the Centurion a design classic?
It's hard to believe this classic shed design is now over 20 years old. I remember going to the insurance testing (I am in the video at the back). It was a great experience. The shed was built by our own installation team in a huge warehouse. Then we stood back and a guy who, from memory, was about 10ft tall and went at the shed with knives and hammers, and metal bars. The good news is he didn't get in! An amazing piece of design and manufacturing - Stuart - Asgard
Asgard Accredited and approved Metal Garden Storage.
The Centurion shed is one of our Police Preferred specification sheds. Super tough and featuring enhanced security features such as 5-point locking. Reinforced doors and shrouded lock mechanisms. As with all our approved sheds, the Centurion is Loss Prevention Tested, Secured By Design, Insurance Approved, and Locksmiths Approved.
Asgard is ISO14001 approved (quality audited), with industry-beating feedback of 4.4 on Trustpilot, and a Customer Concerns rate of less than 0.1% PA
Asgard continues to design original and exciting storage products as the market leader that other manufacturers aspire to be.
