Outdoor Dining Canopies Improve Lunchtimes at Steyning Grammar School

Challenges:

• Congested Dining Hall: Steyning Grammar School teaches 2116 pupils and are faced with a growing intake, in order to accommodate these pupils for lunch, they were in need of additional dining spaces.
• Indoor Congestion During Wet Weather: The school had little outdoor coverage, and therefore students would often crowd indoors during wet weather, causing congestion within the corridors. Providing outdoor covered spaces would allow pupils to comfortably stay outdoors and seek shelter from the rain.

• Staff Satisfaction: During wet weather, students tend to crowd indoors, requiring additional staff for supervision. As a result, staff are often unable to enjoy their breaks between classes. The overcrowding during lunchtimes also created further pressures for the catering and supervising staff. By providing a covered outdoor area, students can remain outside comfortably in all weather conditions, reducing indoor congestion and easing the demand on staff.

Our Solution:

After working with Steyning Grammar School to understand their requirement and available spaces, our team at A&S Landscape designed and installed a large Motiva Duo™ canopy, our most popular choice for large capacity dining solutions, paired with our Motiva Linear™ straight roof canopy to provide a second area.

• The two steel canopies were installed with our Hercules Bench™ ensuring that the canopies were turn-key ready for pupils to use. In the Motiva Linear™, we installed 12 benches bringing the total seated capacity to 72 pupils. Meanwhile, we installed 44 benches in the Motiva Duo™ canopy, providing additional seating for roughly 265 pupils.

Key Features and Materials:

• Structure: These structures and benches feature a robust steel frame, all of which have been finished with a Nigh Blue Duracoat™ providing unparalleled strength against scratches, rust, and corrosion.
• Roofing: Both the straight and curved roof canopies are made with our Poly-tuff™ roofing, in the shade Opal, enabling light to diffuse into the area whilst blocking harmful UV rays.

Timeline:

The project was completed within 11 months, from the initial consultation to the final installation. Our consultants worked closely with the school to fully understand their needs and space, and from this, our design team created the school’s two Exceptional Covered Spaces™. The project was then handed over to our operations department, who manage every stage from fabrication to installation, which is carried out by our experienced fitters. The installation of both canopies and the benches were completed in just over 4 weeks and the school were pleased with how we worked on an open school site.

Results:

• Reduced Congestion in their Dining Hall: These additional areas have provided extra dining space for over 300 pupils, greatly reducing congestion in their main hall.
• Sufficient Shelter for Breaktimes During Wet Weather: The addition of canopies to the playground has provided sufficient shelter for students to make use of during break time, meaning their students can stay dry during rainy and snowy weather.

• Increased Staff Satisfaction: The shelters encourage pupils to stay outside, even during wet weather. This enables teaching staff to enjoy their break time between classes, and eases pressures on catering and supervising staff at lunch times.

Client Testimonial:

“The quality of the installation was very good!” – Site Manager.

Conclusion:

The installation of the canopies and benches at Steyning Grammar School has provided a practical, high-quality solution to the issues caused by overcrowding. By creating two spacious and durable covered outdoor areas, the school can now comfortably accommodate 300 more pupils during lunch and break times, easing pressure on internal spaces. This has significantly improved the student experience, particularly during wet weather, and has had a positive impact on staff wellbeing as well by reducing indoor supervision demands.