How We Can Help You – Our Unique Service

You would like to think that it was fairly straightforward developing your playground but sometimes it can be quite daunting. So over the years we have developed our levels of service to ensure that we can help you every step of the way right from the initial concept through to final completion.

Below are some of the ancillary areas where we can help:

Funding

This subject seems to dominate a lot of our conversations nowadays! We appreciate that funding is tight in schools at the moment so we have developed proven ways to help you. Firstly, we can send you our comprehensive funding guide which lists grant providers you might want to approach but the guide also gives useful information on how to approach local companies for sponsorship and how to go about setting up a crowdfunding website. We always advise schools to spread the net out as widely as possible – so don’t just rely on applying for one grant and hope for the best. You need to have as many rods out as possible as not all of them will eventually get a bite. And it goes without saying that you need to put the effort in and be committed and dedicated to the cause.

Or we partner with a fundraising consultant (who is actually an ex-school business manager and who has raised over £4 million for school projects over the years) who can help you and save you a lot of time and hassle. His approach is a holistic one as he considers the many different funding channels available to your school as well as researching grant providers for your project both locally and on a national basis.

Planning Permission & Building Regulations

This really applies to our outdoor classrooms and school classrooms range (especially the larger enclosed versions) where schools need to consider if the building needs planning permission or not. We have a lot of experience in this matter and can help or advise accordingly. Basically, the majority of outdoor classrooms we install do not require planning permission because they fall within permitted development rights – there are certain stipulations that you have to adhere to for this exemption such as distances from boundaries, height of the classroom etc but we can advise you on these and send you our information files.

But we do always stress that every school is different as they might have already used up their permitted development rights for example with other previous building projects. A definitive answer however will have to come from the local planning authority and a lot of authorities nowadays run a pre-app service whereby for a small fee, they will advise you as to whether or not they think your project will require planning permission or not.

If you do need to apply for planning however, then we can certainly put together the planning drawings you will require for our classroom buildings which will form part of your application. These typically have a pictorial representation of the classroom building showing all dimensions, elevations and specifications.

As the majority of outdoor classrooms fall below 30m2, there is not the need to apply for building regs as they are exempt as this square metreage. If your building does go over 30m2 however, we are able to apply for and manage all building control issues on your behalf.

Network of Suppliers

If your project involves elements or products which we as the Hideout House Company cannot provide from our own comprehensive range, then we have many contacts in the industry who can help out or with whom we can partner so that you have an easy to manage “one stop shop”. Typically these would involve landscaping, safety surfacing, fencing or renewable energy systems.

And of course, we will always help out and advise on our own product range making sure that you have what you want rather than what we want to sell you. Over the course of 18 years, we have supplied many schools up and down the country with products that have fully met their brief and are of a high enough quality to withstand the test of time and the daily rigours of a school playground.

For further information on our product range, please contact us on 01832 275902, email info@hideouthouse.com or visit http://www.timberline.co.uk