Smithy Street Primary School – Stepney Green E1
A simple brief for a covered outdoor learning space.

Our Clients Vision
Our client had a simple brief for us. They wanted an outdoor classroom, or covered learning space, that would also be usable as a shelter at playtime on wet drizzly days.
Our Design
The shelter was designed to be practical, sturdy, and functional. The roof was an intricate beam system to offer strength and presented an interesting geometric pattern. The supporting posts were set into bespoke steel post ‘shoes’ which were then concreted in the ground, this provided great strength and reduced the risk of the timber rotting.



The Site Period
Construction was to take place during the school term, so reducing time on site was important. The Roof and the supporting posts were prefabricated, leaving a simple assembly on site. And construction took less than a week.
The Challenges
As the construction work would be during school time, we decided upon a Risk Assessment and Method Statement strategy that would help us manage this. Working with the client it was agreed to use Heras fencing around the area of work and to use cordless tools to remove the need for trailing power cables.
We agreed a fixed delivery schedule so arrival of the bulky and heavy components, lorries and lifting equipment did not clash with school playtimes.
As we would be working at height, we used mobile towers to allow us to do this both safely, and efficiently.
The Completed Project
We were pleased with the results, and how well our team of carpenters worked on the project, everything was done safely, and they even finished early. We have worked for this client on several projects and provided annual maintenance regimes. So, they had confidence in our designs, construction and installation teams and this project was delivered to our usual high standards.
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Tell us about your vision
We’re very happy to chat with you about your school playground ideas and answer any initial questions that you may have about Theories Landscapes, so why not give us a call or send us an email, it costs you nothing and could be the start of something wonderful that enhances your school and your pupils’ lives for years to come..
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