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Specialist Playground Canopies

Playground Canopy in Ferndown

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We are specialist Playground Canopy contractors who have installed thousands of playground shelters throughout Ferndown Dorset.

With installers based throughout Dorset we can offer competitive prices and in December 2024 are able to get costs to you very quickly.

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In Ferndown the playground can be one of the most important spaces in a modern school, offering an outdoor learning environment and a place to play. They are highly influential in the way that children develop, and a good playground can be far more than just a space for play equipment and seating.

However, as an outdoor space, most school playground areas are vulnerable to the whims of the weather in December 2024. Young children can be caught out in the rain, interrupting both their outdoor play and any outdoor classroom lessons that they might be taking part in.

We offer a number of great Playground Canopies and are more than happy in assisting you on anything you need more information on.

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Playground canopies and shelters can counteract this problem. Not only can good playground shelters protect children from the elements, but they can help you create a dedicated learning space, split up particular parts of the play area, or even act as the basis of entire outdoor classrooms.

We have worked with countless clients in Ferndown in the past to install the exact equipment they need, and school playgrounds are no exception. Whether you represent a nursery school, primary schools, or an entirely different organisation, we can work with you to create perfect sheltered outdoor areas every time.

If you want to know more about why school canopies are so useful, this breakdown of what they’re for can help you understand why they’re important in outdoor spaces. You can contact us directly for a more in-depth look into specific information, so let us know if there’s anything you need.

Table of Contents

Why are Playground Shelters Important?

Providing shelter through the use of school canopies can be a great way to protect children from the elements while still allowing them to get fresh air. To an adult, slight rain on the school grounds might not sound like much, but it can be a major problem for developing children.

However, the benefits aren’t just related to the weather. A school canopy in a playground can have a multitude of uses.

Rain

A decent playground shelter will protect an outdoor area from the rain at many angles, making it a lot easier for children to use the playground equipment with less chance of getting wet. This can reduce the chance of them catching colds and can also stop the equipment from becoming dangerously slippery.

UV

Many playground canopies can provide greater protection from harmful UV rays. This is a great benefit no matter what, but it’s most useful when a school chooses to hold lessons outdoors in the summer. The more protection children have, the better they can learn.

Versatility

All school playground shelters, from bespoke canopies to simply wooden playground shelters, can be useful in countless different ways. They’re cheaper and more open than an entirely new building but can also offer a lot of varied uses without restricting movement around the school playground.

Whether you use them for play areas or as outdoor classrooms, they can be excellent modular shelters with nearly infinite possibilities. They also make a beautiful addition to the school itself while also allowing children to move around without the same restrictions as a walled-off space.

If you would like to receive even more information on Playground Canopies, make sure you get in touch with us today!

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Choosing a Playground Canopy Design

Playground shelters can come in many different styles and types, many of which have their own core benefits. Whatever you choose, you’re guaranteed to get fresh air and a great outdoor learning space – it just depends on what you’re looking for.

Types of playground canopies

School canopies can have a lot of variation, but most of them are similar in terms of what they offer. The most notable difference is where you install them – some might only work up against certain surfaces or in a particular part of the playground.

Free-Standing Canopy

A regular playground canopy allows children to play with full bad weather and UV protection. Each one shelters playground space while standing on its own supports, meaning that it can work very well in a free-flow play environment. They also work well as freeform outdoor classroom spaces.

Entrance Canopy

An entrance canopy can offer cover at the school entrance, making it a great place for children to wait if they need to be picked up from the school site at the end of the day. If the canopy is large enough, then it can extend into a play area, handling bad weather and UV light in a large part of the playground.

Wall-Mounted Canopy

A wall-mounted canopy is attached to existing structures, usually the main buildings of the schools themselves. These are great shelters for children who want to sit outside on a bench or wait for their next class to start, but they are also a great option for more compact play areas.

Other School Canopies

A school canopy can also be used for more than just a school playground or outdoor canopies. Bespoke canopies can work well for all kinds of alternate uses, including things like a cycle shelter, crowd shelters for sports games, or even an installation for reading and working outdoors.

We have installed thousands of canopies and shelters across countless different schools, and our range of options can extend to almost any situation. If you need weather protection somewhere during the school day, then we can offer it, regardless of exactly what you need it for.

At Playground Canopy, we can assist you on the best options available. Make sure you contact us today for a number of great Playground Canopies.

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Playground Canopy Materials

Materials can also make a big difference with canopies and shelters, playground-based or otherwise. Not only do they change the style of the playground canopies themselves, but they can also make them useful as different kinds of shelter.

Synthetic School Canopies

Synthetic shelters/playground equipment will often use things like a polycarbonate roof, providing highly specialised protection from bad weather to help you build an excellent outdoor learning environment.

These come in a wide variety of types, and one installation could be completely different from another. They’re all suitable for trying to create an outdoor classroom space for daytime lessons or as an installation to offer weather and UV protection to children playing outside.

Timber Canopies

Timber canopies are also suitable for an outdoor learning environment, with most timber canopies offering some kind of roof. These timber canopies are a great installation for keeping a natural and slightly rustic feel and are also a lot cheaper than installing some other options.

Timber canopies are usable all year round and won’t create problems if they get wet. The timber in timber canopies is treated to protect it, and wall-mounted timber canopies can rely on the building that they’re attached to if high winds start hitting the playground.

Other Materials

There really aren’t many limits to what school canopies can be made from. We have a huge range of different playground shelters, all of which can be tailored to fit our clients’ needs. If you need a canopy that works for a specific type of play or classroom space, then we can get to work installing it.

The exact materials you use might matter for things like sensory play or for making a safe play area, but we can advise you on the best combination for each situation. There are many benefits to every kind of material combination, so finding the right one is always helpful.

Where Are Playground Canopies Installed?

Playground shelters aren’t exclusively a school canopy option. While they can often be used in primary schools and secondary schools as a way of promoting more time spent outdoors – and thus a healthy lifestyle – they also appear in a range of other locations.

Outdoor Learning at Nurseries

Some nurseries rely on them quite heavily, turning outdoor spaces into an outdoor learning environment. These are often smaller wall-mounted options, but they’re designed with a core focal point to make sure that they work well as outdoor classrooms for much younger children.

Shelter and Outdoor Classrooms at Play Parks

While they aren’t always used all year round, a canopy can work well in a play park that isn’t part of a local school. They offer shelter from the sun for parents that want to watch their children play and can be used as pseudo-classrooms or places to rest and eat a snack.

How Much Does a Playground Canopy Cost?

Most basic playground canopies will generally cost around £3,500 to supply and install. Of course, this varies based on the exact kind of playground shelters that you’re looking for, as well as other factors involved in the construction of the school canopy itself.

Size

The ground clearance and space required can often be a major part of the cost since that influences how much material is needed. You can expect small canopies to cost a lot less than their larger counterparts, as will smaller canopies compared to taller canopies.

This can also matter when choosing a particular type of canopy. In some cases, a canopy that attaches to an existing building may cost less since fewer supports are needed. In other cases, this canopy may cost more since more work is needed to actually install the canopy correctly.

Complexity

The more complex and difficult to install a canopy is, the more it will cost. This can often mean that you’ll have to think about the actual design of what you’re getting – it may be easier and cheaper to split one canopy into two canopies rather than trying to get one that changes angle or shape at one end.

Our friendly team can do their best to help you work through the potential canopies that you might want, pointing out any situations where the canopies are unnecessarily complicated. Simpler solutions are often cheaper and easier but still look amazing and work just as well as you would expect.

Materials

Some materials cost more than others. This could be a minor cost increase, like different types of wood, or a major cost difference, like using a completely new set of materials altogether. It’s extremely important that you choose the right shelter materials for your budget.

While different materials might be ideal for different things, you never need a certain type of shelter. Any shelter canopies can work as a classroom or a play space – you’ll mostly miss out on benefits like better UV protection during summer, which not every school will even need.

Benefits of canopies for a playground

The year-round benefits of shelter canopies in schools are generally always the same, differing only slightly depending on the designs. They offer:

Canopies have been used almost everywhere in Ferndown, from even the smallest County Durham schools to major education buildings in London.

How to Maintain a Playground Canopy

It’s much more important to keep an eye out for anything that could damage the canopies. While most schoolchildren will play in a way that doesn’t put canopies at risk, it’s always a good idea to make sure that you check the supports regularly, replacing or repairing them as needed.

If any of the roof sections seem to be coming loose, contact us straight away. Canopies are often quite light, but they can still be a hazard if something damages those canopies enough to make part of them slip and fall into the schoolyard below.

Playground Canopies Key Features

School playground canopies often have a few defining features. Usually things like their fancy colours or the particular use that you’re aiming for. Some schools may treat canopies like a learning space, while others build their canopies for style to create a more playful environment.

The three core features of all canopies should be safety, comfort, and versatility. Canopies like this are often used in schools to be a good jack-of-all-trades outdoor space.

Most Popular Playground Canopy Colours?

As you might expect, bright and colourful school canopies are the most popular canopies chosen by most schools. Canopies in primary colours are a mainstay of many schools for younger school children.

We offer a huge variety of school canopies in Ferndown, suitable for schools of all kinds. If you think one could benefit your school, or just fit into an outdoor space that you’re creating, then get in touch, and our helpful staff can point you towards an option that might work perfectly for your school.

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Make sure you contact us today for a number of great Playground Canopies in South West.

Here are some towns we cover near Ferndown.

Wimborne Minster, Ringwood, Bournemouth, Dorset, Verwood
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What Others Say About Our Services

We absolutely love the service provided. Their approach is really friendly but professional. We went out to five different companies and found Playground Canopy to be value for money and their service was by far the best. Thank you for your really awesome work, we will definitely be returning!

William Lowe
Dorset

We have used Playground Canopy for many years as they are certainly the best in the UK. The attention to detail and professional setup is what makes this company our go-to company for all our work. I highly recommend the team for the immense work - we highly recommend them!

Elliot Lester
Dorset

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