Dining Area Canopies

The Condensed Guide To Outdoor Dining Area Design in Schools

When you’re designing (or re-designing) your dining areas to meet the changing needs of your school, there’s a lot to take into account. From the statutory minimum dining area you need to provide, to the welfare and happiness of the children, the challenge of balancing your responsibilities with your budget is not going to be easy.

The Department for Education provides a technical document for project managers (Area Guidelines for Mainstream Schools, Building Bulletin 103, June 2014), which, for those of you with a technical mind, you can access here.

We’ve looked at the whole thing and extracted the relevant information on outdoor dining areas. So whether you’re doing the planning yourself or overseeing your main contractor while they complete the process, you’ll remain informed and assured that your plans are fit for purpose and will meet the needs of your school.

You’ll see that even outdoor dining spaces need to meet strict guidance on accessibility, space, capacity, H&S and other regulations.

Dining Area Space Allocation

The total area of spaces used for dining should allow an amount per cover, or dining place. The number of covers should be based on the predicted number of pupils who would eat lunch on site (including packed lunches) divided by the number of ‘sittings’ or equivalent (if continuous flow) in the lunch break. Crucially, the number of sittings will depend on the time available for lunch.

You can request our graph which shows the range of area needed, depending on the time available and therefore the number of sittings possible. It is important to note that the lower recommended area for dining is only sufficient if the lunchtime available is at least an hour. This may be achieved by a single lunch break for all pupils or by a ‘split lunch’ break.

Remember

“A good dining experience gives schools a happier and calmer population of children, supports an increased uptake of school meals, and makes a significant contribution to your Health and Wellbeing inspection”

Department of Education, Northern Ireland

Dining Area Design

When designing your dining room facilities whether indoors or outdoors, you need to ensure:

1. There are sufficient tables and seating for dining ‘covers’ and space to access them
2. You have allowed adequate space for the number of pupils, taking into account the length of meal breaks and number of servings (the statutory minimum requirement is covered in this document)
3. There is sufficient queueing space up to and in front of any servery if relevant
4. There are adequate clearance areas and waste disposal
5. Where required, there are satellite or temporary servery areas
6. Wheelchair/disabled access is available to all areas
7. There are sufficient bins and recycling points where appropriate
8. Where you are planning outdoor spaces, that the plans meet the relevant construction regulations (e.g. CDM 2015)
9. That the environment you are creating is conducive to a good dining experience

In secondary schools, there can also be opportunities to create a much wider range of eating spaces within the dining area allocation, such as cafés and buffet areas that also become social spaces. The area may include further provision for cold meals or snacks, for instance from vending machines.

Social spaces specifically for sixth form pupils may be used for eating cold food, from vending machines or a satellite servery.

In addition to these specific requirements for dining areas, the Department for Education document also outlines the minimum space required for the area designated for ‘Halls, Dining and PE’, regardless of pupil numbers. You can request this here.

Output Specification Generic Design Brief

Away from the ‘Area Guidelines’ document, the Government’s ‘Output Specifications Generic Design Brief’ document also contains instructions for the design and build of dining areas. Our Condensed Guide Number 4 contains general advice for the use of this document, or you can request the whole thing here.

Specific to dining spaces, it states the following:

2.3.12 Dining and Kitchen Suite (including main halls in Primary Special and AP)

2.3.12.1 The Contractor shall ensure that the areas of any dining space(s) provided are as identified in the School-Specific SoA and ADS and are designed to accommodate any catering arrangements of the School set out in the SSB. Specific requirements, including whether dining will be dispersed around the School, rather than in a single location or, may be given in the SSB. Where required, the dining area shall be designed to allow other functions to take place, with the internal environment designed to cater for any different activities specified in the SSB

2.3.12.3 As well as responding to any specific requirements in the SSB, the Contractor shall ensure that any area provided for use as a dining space shall:

1. in a Whole School Project, be easily accessible from all areas, conveniently positioned in relation to the kitchen and/ or serving areas, and be designed so that the space can be used during timetabled lessons without disturbing pupils who are working nearby

1. have sufficient circulation or other space next to the dining area for queuing and circulation at mealtimes, including for those using Mobility Equipment, without impinging on the dining tables

1. have an efficient layout with adequate seating capacity

2.3.12.4 Where a specific dining area is required in the School-Specific SoA and ADS, the contractor shall ensure that it is designed so that there is adequate space for till points, where required, and serving areas to service the number of diners in any sitting, as given in the School-Specific SoA and ADS or SSB. Where required in the SSB or the School-Specific SoA and ADS, the Contractor shall also design the space to facilitate the requirements for distribution of food to dining areas in other areas of the School

3.4.1.8 In dining areas, the Contractor shall ensure that the FF&E [Fittings, Furniture and Equipment] used, and the associated FF&E layout meets the following requirements.

1. There is a logical flow of pupils round the dining space from arrival, queuing to collect food (both hot and cold) eating and self-clearing, based on the number of lunch sessions, the number of pay stations (where relevant) and the hot/cold split, as outlined in the School- Specific SoA and ADS and SSB.
2. Space is provided for food vending trolleys and dirty/waste collection points.
3. There is sufficient circulation space for pupils to move between dining tables and to allow a wheelchair user to access some tables and dine alongside other pupils.
4. The servery has a tray slide and supports to ensure an efficient service and pupils’ safety
5. There is adequate seating capacity for the allocated amount of time and the number of pupils, as specified in the SSB.
6. Provision of storage furniture with sufficient space around it, as defined in the SSB.