Whalley Range High School, Manchester

Using two courtyard areas to create year-group bubbles for breaks and lunches, Whalley Range High School noticed that students were less inclined to use the lawned courtyards in cold or wet weather.

Looking for solutions to encourage the students outside in the fresh air, the Leadership Team worked closely with the Streetspace designers specifying a steel frame TRITON Polycarbonate Canopy to create a 130m2 covered space to fit close to the school buildings. The new canopy works include paved surfacing area extending beyond the canopy to create more usable space for students. This transformed the underutilised area between buildings into a vibrant hub for social space, outdoor learning and dining.

In the central area of the second courtyard an ORION CONIC Tensile Fabric Canopy with its PVC membrane cover provides an inspiration 140m2 of covered space with a single column support for maximum column free space.

Both courtyards presented a construction challenge for the Streetspace Installation team; with no access to the courtyards available through the school buildings. This required that all plant, equipment, construction materials and the canopy structures were lifted over the school buildings from the car park area. Due to the 50m distance Streetspace specified a 150-ton mobile crane for the operation.

All groundworks, surfacing and canopy installation works were completed over the two-week school Easter holidays, ensuring that lifting operations could be carried out safely and that any disruption for staff and pupils was kept to a minimum.

Follow the link for further information on canopies for schools OR give our team a call on 01227 200404