Grants Supporting Environmental Projects in Schools

/in /by

For a long time now, we have developing products for schools which promote environmental awareness and nurture an appreciation of the planet and its finite resources. Such products include our playground equipment and other playground products (planters, sandboxes, mud kitchens etc) made entirely out of recycled plastic; our eco classrooms which feature living roofs and living walls, renewable energy systems, sheepswool insulation and even special dynamo bikes the children have to pedal to produce electricity!

This year we have seen an increasing amount of sales for our educational renewable energy equipment. We usually sell this as part of our eco classroom package but this equipment can also be installed onto existing playground buildings. The equipment is comprised of a solar panel and mini wind turbine (roof mounted) which then feeds down into a control board which is usually sited within our outdoor classroom. This board features two isolator switches, a datalogger, a battery (to store energy produced by the solar panel and turbine), an inverter, two power sockets and a bulk head light.

We have therefore been doing some research work on trying to find specific grants which will fund such equipment and have come up with the list below. This list is by no means exhaustive but is a good as place to start as any.

1) Greggs Environmental Grant
https://www.greggsfoundation.org.uk/environmental-grant

2) Joseph Rowntree Sustainable Fund
https://www.jrct.org.uk/sustainable-future

3) Ernest Cook Trust
http://ernestcooktrust.org.uk/grants/

4) Persimmon Community Champions
https://www.persimmonhomes.com/charity

5) Heathrow Community Trust
https://www.heathrowcommunitytrust.org/need-funding/environmental-and-sustainability-grants

6) M&S Energy Community Fund
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/mandsenergyfund

 

For more information on our product range, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

Environmental Benefits of Eco Friendly Play Equipment

/in /by

Did you know….?

• Each year about 12.5 million tonnes of plastic is made from fossil fuels
• More than 30% of this plastic is used for short-lived packaging products
• Over 50% of the light packaging materials from household collections consist of plastic

At the Hideout House Company, we believe that our position as one of the UK’s leading suppliers of high performance recycled plastic playground equipment products brings with it a certain responsibility to educate about the importance of recycling as our company ethos is, and always has been, to continue to develop new innovative and sustainable products using recycled materials. Our range also promotes renewable energy and includes outdoor classrooms which are powered by sun, wind and pedal power (children pedal special bikes which have an energy producing dynamo attached).

  • We are actively contributing to the protection of our environment and its finite resources by completing the recycling loop of turning household plastic waste into other products.
  • Recycling has proven to be especially eco-efficient and CO2 reductive as it is preventing this waste from going to landfill sites in the UK and around the world
  • Recycled plastic play equipment is just as the name suggests – it is made from 100% recycled plastic and they are also 100% recyclable.

These playground products  – which include trim trails, play towers, play boats, planters, mud kitchens, sandboxes and fencing – are extremely cost effective as their durability and long life expectancy eliminates any on-going maintenance or replacement costs, which further adds to the protection of our environment.

Any off-cuts produced during the manufacturing processes are also fed back into the system. They are re-shredded and then consequently turned into another product. No plastic waste is therefore created during this process and the material does not contain any substances that are harmful to the environment.

For our educational video on this subject matter, please visit:

Video

T: 01832 275902
E: info@hideouthouse.com

How Your School Can Demonstrate Good Environmental Practice

/in /by

So we have this whole big issue of plastic pollution which is wreaking all kinds of havoc on the environment adversely affecting wildlife, wildlife habitat and us, humans.
David Attenborough has told us all about it;

so has Greta Thunberg and even school children from around the world recently went on strike for a day to drive the message home.


And that is why we are now using recycled plastic for our play equipment. Rather than polluting our planet, plastic bottles and cartons can now be 100% recycled and made into recycled plastic which is a low maintenance and environmentally friendly alternative to timber.
Did you know for example that it takes about 2000 plastic bottles to make just one bench?

So rubbish can be transformed into a useful, high quality playground product.

But there is more. As well as its extremely eco friendly credentials, there are also lots of other benefits:-

• It will never rot or degrade as it can easily tolerate damp conditions
• It will never splinter or have cracks and shakes
• It is extremely low maintenance
• It is hard wearing and exceptionally durable lasting five times longer than timber and does not degrade with age
• It is UV, graffiti, algae and insect resistant

Some very good reasons therefore to make playground products out of this material and by doing so, this demonstrates a good environmental practice within your school.

Trim trail on wet pour

For more information on our range of recycled plastic playground products, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

 

How To Engage Children In Designing Your School’s Playground Space

/in /by
recycled plastic play equipment

Play area with wet pour

Many of our customers are individuals who have been delegated the task of creating or updating a play space but do not know where to begin. So we would advise you to design the space yourself by involving your students. Head teachers, councils and funding groups across the UK have expressed a need to find a way to get their students/pupils involved in planning and choosing equipment for their new playgrounds. The Hideout House Company has therefore taken these requests and created a programme that not only allows the children to easily get involved but also to incorporate it into the curriculum of maths, ICT and design.

Step One
Have the students head outside with tape measures and grid line paper to measure and draw the space available for the new playground. Ideal locations are flat and have few barriers such as trees or buildings

Step Two
Have the students sit down in a group and brainstorm items such as what ages will be using the playground? How many children on average are using the play space at any given time? Are there needs on the playground such as shelter from the sun and rain, a place to exercise, a place for creative role play or even just a space to sit and socialise? And is the playground in a location where it is accessible when the school is closed to the local community or is it secured and locked up?

Step Three
Reveal and discuss the budget with the students allowing them to understand the costs of this new playground. This will in turn give them a sense of pride and responsibility to take care of the new play equipment.

Step Four
In your ICT room allow the students to enter in all the information they have gathered starting with the dimensions of the space and the budget

Step Five
Scroll through the products available and this includes everything from climbing towers, fitness trails, outdoor classrooms and shelters etc

Step Six
As they price the items on the playground they will see their budget and remaining budget totals so they will know if they have gone over the budget allowance.

Step Seven
Once they are happy with their space and they have remained within their budget, they can now send this document to us and we will in turn convert it into a playground plan and visual showing the products the children have chosen

Step Eight
Find a spot in your school to post the designs once they have been sent to you and let the students vote on their favourites!

We will come out free of charge and do an official site visit to survey the area, the space and the equipment to verify that the design is accurate and to give you a confirmed quote.

For further information on our range of playground equipment, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

How To Teach Children About Renewable Energy

/in /by
eco outdoor classrooms

eco outdoor classroom in cedar wood

Worries and concerns about global warming and the damage we are causing to the stability of the environment are probably now at their highest level with children and youth being the most vocal in raising their concerns. And for good reason.
The eco schools programme is doing a marvellous job in promoting the environmental issue within educational establishments worldwide and as a result children are actively getting involved in programmes which promote healthy living, renewable energy, bio-diversity, recycling and global citizenship.
Over the years, we have developed quite a few products which promote this whole eco schools issue. The most popular of which has always been the eco hub or eco classroom which features our unique renewable energy kit. This system is intended to be an educational learning tool as opposed to being an “off grid” power or electricity supply. The equipment features a mini wind turbine and solar panel which are typically either mounted on a pole or onto the roof of an existing outdoor classroom building or shelter.
The power created by the sun and wind is then fed down into a panel which is wall mounted inside the outdoor classroom. This features a battery (encased) which stores the energy created by the renewables. By way of an inverter, this energy is then translated into low power usable electricity via two double power sockets which the children can plug their laptops, visualisers, tablets etc into. Green energy in its purest form at their finger tips!
The board also features two isolators and a data logger. So for example the children can shut down the wind turbine if it is a hot sunny day and there is no wind. By way of the datalogger facility, they can see how much energy is being provided by the solar panel alone. Ditto if it was a very windy today, they could isolate the wind turbine and close down the solar panel.
The system can be featured on any outdoor classroom or shelter or play ground building as long as the roof is strong enough and there are sufficient internal fixing points for the board.
It certainly promotes environmental awareness and an appreciation of how renewable energy is created. And it may be used too for certain eco school accreditations.
To see the system in action please visit the website link below:

Video

For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

display and monitoring board

Schools, Climate Change & Greta Thunberg

/in /by
eco outdoor classrooms

eco outdoor classroom in cedar wood

It has been so heartening to witness the recent events of young people – aka school children – demonstrating so vociferously against the devastations of climate change and global warming. From the inspiring speeches of the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg to the recent student marches in and around all major cities of the world, the world has finally found a unified voice and that voice is youth. I do believe that in the years to come, history will judge the day when a teenage girl in Scandinavia decided to bunk off school and protest about the environment as one of the major turning points in finally getting the leaders of the world to sit up, listen and act.

And young people have every right to be angry or feel frustrated at world leaders and politicians as they are the ones who are going to inherit and deal with the major problems that climate change will bring. And whatever you believe, it surely has to be obvious to everyone that something is quite not right with the planet and that is what is happening right now today is just the start.

There are no quick fixes that is for sure but I have always believed that if the younger generation of today are aware of the major issues facing the planet (and they obviously are in light of the recent worldwide protests) and can act in a more respectful way that is almost second nature to them, then we are perhaps in with a fighting chance. And that all starts with education.

There is already a very good international programme that runs within educational establishments called Eco Schools (it currently engages 19.5 million children across 67 countries) which essentially promotes and informs on issues such as recycling, bio-diversity, energy, healthy living, transport and waste.

So what have we done as the Hideout House Company to promote the environmental cause? Well, quite a lot actually. We have now fully developed our range of playground products which are manufactured out of recycled plastic as opposed to the more traditional timber. This material is 100% recycled from plastic cartons so has very good eco credentials. This range now takes in trim trails, playboats, planters, tables, mud kitchens and play towers.

And our very own eco hub is proving to be very popular too. This includes a shelter (available in different shapes and sizes) with a grass living roof, a water butt and roof guttering system (for rainwater harvesting) and our educational renewable energy equipment. This particular feature was designed and developed in house and includes a solar panel and mini wind turbine which is mounted on the roof; this in turn feeds down into a monitoring control panel which is secured on a wall within the shelter where a battery stores the energy created by the turbine and solar panel. This is then turned into usable electricity by way of an inverter so that the children can plug in their mobiles, laptops, tablets etc into the two outdoor sockets on the board. We feel that there is no better way to teach children about the creation of renewable energy – “green power” at their fingertips!

We have also created outdoor classrooms which are pedal powered i.e. children pedalling on specially adapted dynamo bikes to create enough electricity to charge sound systems, lights and portable cinemas. And it has another plus side too in that it burns off the calories as the children know that if they stop pedalling, so does the power.

For more information on our range of eco friendly products for schools, please given us a call on 01832 275902 or visit wwww.hideouthouse.com

play towers

Play Tower Duo Low Level in recycled plastic

Outdoor Classrooms On A Budget

/in /by

square outdoor classroom with decked floor and benching

We do get asked every now and again for “what is the cheapest thing you can supply?”. We do appreciate that budgets are tight in schools and that you need to prove value for money in your overall buying criteria and selection processes.

The word “cheap” sometimes causes me a bit of concern however because in my book, cheap is usually associated with poor quality and short working life spans of the particular product in question. As a company, we don’t really do “cheap” if it means low quality because the economics simply don’t work. A low price might lure you in initially but you will spend a lot of money over the years on snagging and maintenance and it will not last as long as one product will do if manufactured to a higher quality and standard. If you add in these factors, the product which is “reassuringly expensive” would be the better option for value for money.

But if you are after a product which is of good quality but is lower down the pricing matrix, you might want to consider our outdoor classrooms with a canvas roof. Usually our roofs used on our outdoor classrooms have a felt shingle tile, then a waterproof membrane and then a log ceiling underdraw. But this can easily be replaced with a canvas roof instead to drive down the cost a bit.

The canvas we use is a PU coated, marine grade canvas which is available in a range of colours – blue, green, yellow, red, vanilla and maroon. Usually the darker the colour, the greater the UV resistance. We already use these canvas roofs on our outdoor shelters but we simply adapt these shelters to include for a timber decked floor, sub-frame base, lower level panels to three sides and internal benching.

These type of outdoor classrooms are available in a range of sizes – namely 3m x 3m, 4m x 4m, 5m x 5m and 5m x 3m.

We can also supply roll-down canvas panels as well to the windows and door which afford you extra protection against the elements by allowing the outdoor classroom to be “fully enclosed”. And if needs be, we can use a special grade of canvas which has fire retardant properties built into it.

Prices start at £4,350 + VAT

For further information, please contact the Hideout House Company on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

Completion of play area at Fishponds Playing Fields, London

/in /by

Playground scheme with surfacing

We have recently completed the installation of a new play provision facility at Fishponds Playing fields in South West London. Fishponds playing fields is a 2.5ha gated site predominantly hosting grass sports pitches rented out to local schools and sports teams.

The original brief we received from Wandsworth Borough Council was as follows: “The priority age range for the play provision is 2-11 year olds with a bias towards the younger children in this age range. Install a natural themed children’s trim trail that encourages a range of play experiences including climbing, balancing, strength building, hanging and imagination using recycled plastic imitation equipment that conforms to (no earlier than 2017) safety standards BS EN 1176 and BS EN 1177 as recommended by the Association of Playground Industries (API) code of practice. Give careful consideration to location and spacing of trim trail units and landscaping to ensure optimal flow between units and maximisation of playable space. ”

In our original tender, we designed a play area which not only maximised the space and thereby play value available to us but we also met the above brief of providing play equipment which suited the appropriate age range.

But most importantly, all of the play equipment was manufactured out of recycled plastic as opposed to timber or even metal. This was because as it is a publicly accessible play park, the customer wanted to ensure that the equipment lasted, was relatively maintenance free, was resistant as is possible to potential vandalism, does not rot or decay and benefits the environment. All of these boxes are ticked therefore by utilising recycled plastic materials.

The play equipment is comprised of the following: a play tower with slide and a rockwall; a trim trail including stepping stones, balance beam, wobbly log bridge and step up ladder; parallel bars and an activity “cube” including Traverse Rope, Hanging Log Crossing, Hanging Rope Crossing, Pull-Up bar and Tumble Bar. The safety surface used is an artificial grass carpet with a shock pad underlay with kerb edging. To the side of this area is a play boat (again manufactured out of recycled plastic) which is surrounded by a blue coloured bonded rubber mulch surface to emulate the sea for the younger age children and two benches.

The whole job – including the safety surfacing – was completed in ten days and is now up and running and ready for use.

For more information on our play equipment range, please visit trim trails

or call us on 01832 275902 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

Value For Money Is Quality

/in /by

We know that schools have to get at least three competitive quotes for any project they are considering over a certain amount of money and that this subsequently has to be signed off by the board of Governors. And we also totally appreciate that when considering the quotes and options in front of them, value for money..or proving value for money…has to be taken into account.

Sometimes we may not always be the cheapest quote on the table – but then again, there will always be someone else cheaper than the cheapest one. But in our book, we stand by the expression “buy cheap, buy twice” because you will always get what you pay for and the savings you think you are making will soon be lost. Or could even cost you a lot more money.

And that is why we beat the drum of the quality of the product which should be one of the most important deciding factors. Using high quality materials means that they will stand up to the rigorous demands of a school playground and they will last. And will typically require less maintenance over the given life period of the product.

For our outdoor classrooms for instance, we never use plywood or single boarding for the roof as they will eventually rot and leak over time. We use a felt shingle tile, then a waterproof membrane and with a log ceiling underdraw so it will not leak, rot or decay. The timbers we use for the main classroom building are grade 4 tanalised to give greater protection against timber rot, infestation and decay and to give longevity.

Our adventure trim trail products are manufactured out of recycled plastic as opposed to traditional timber because recycled plastic will outlast timber five times..and will never rot or decay even for the section which is dug into the ground.

Guarantees, customer service and previous work/testimonials should also be taken into consideration.

Plastic Pollution and Recycled Plastic

/in /by

Thankfully this very big and important issue of worldwide plastic pollution – and the damage it is doing to our planet – is now very much at the forefront of the news and social media platforms – very much helped along by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet TV series which broadcast alarming images of how the oceans are increasingly being choked with litter. And every day another news story appears which helps to ignite our outrage at what is happening.

So here are some facts:
* Every minute one million plastic bottles are sold worldwide
* 12 million tonnes of plastic is dumped into our oceans and rivers every single year
* Europe recycled only 30% of the plastic made and you have got to be believe that we are at the better end of the recycling loop
* It is not just plastic bottles, straws and packaging – tiny micro plastics are also dangerous and can harm marine life

Positive action is being taken however and there are now many lobby groups around the world trying to influence and change Government policy on plastic production and recycling. The plastic companies also need to take a very active part in phasing out all non-essential plastic and to move away from single-use and throwaway plastics. If Government laws do force these companies to take the right action, it can work – look at the recent example of the 5p plastic bag levy which has resulted in a plastic bag usage drop of an amazing 80%! And a lot of supermarkets – notably Tesco and their Bags of Help community fund – have taken this initiative further by setting up local community funding programmes.

Schools are undoubtedly very much at the forefront of environmentally friendly practices through the help of programmes such as Eco Schools. This is also helping to alter or influence the mindset of today’s younger generation in questioning whether what we take for granted now is acceptable for the well-being of the planet in the future. This is going to be far more their problem than previous generations.

All of the above is one of the leading drivers why we, as the Hideout House Company, decided to change from using rounded timber for our trim trail adventure play equipment to using recycled plastic instead. Not only does it have many other numerous benefits – such as rot free, 5 x longevity, minimal maintenance etc – it has exceptional “green” credentials as it is manufactured from 100% recycled plastic bottles. These products cause hardly any environmental contamination with environmental protection being taken into consideration even during production where emissions are kept low. So instead of these plastic bottles ending up in the oceans choking and killing our precious marine life or polluting our landscapes, it can end up in your school’s playground instead!

For further information on our range of recycled plastic products, please visit www.hideouthouse.com