Site Visits for Outdoor Classrooms
We do get asked at the moment if we are still conducting site visits during the Covid pandemic and the answer is yes! We will obviously follow Government guidelines with regards to social distancing and if needs be, we don’t necessarily need to come into the school building and can meet you outside.
Prior to the visit, we do like to find out quite a bit about the project so that we can come fully prepared. A typical pre-site visit discussion with our staff would involve ascertaining what kind of outdoor classroom you are actually interested in and indeed what it is intended to be used for – is it one of our open-sided gazebo style outdoor classrooms or one of our fully enclosed versions. This then typically drives what size of building your school requires and we would also need to know at this stage if there are specific budget parameters in mind. If your school wants an outdoor classroom which is fully enclosed, we also discuss with you whether you need to have the building fully insulated (usually only worth doing if you are going to heat the building) and we go through the various modular options with you – for example roofing systems, double glazing, external timber claddings, floor coverings etc
When we actually come and undertake the site visit at your school, we are essentially looking at three principal issues – the first and perhaps most obvious is will it fit okay in the designated space. If space is an issue, we can always advise on other alternatives or shapes of buildings perhaps. Secondly, we look at ground conditions – what is the existing surface we will be installing the feature onto (eg grass, tarmac, safety surfacing etc) and is the ground level. This is quite important – for the majority of our outdoor classrooms, we can cater for a fall of no more than 300mm over say a 5m span. We do this by using our timber sub-frame base system which levels the floor without the need to lay a concrete base. If there is indeed a fall over the area, we typically add in more skirting on the area of the building where the fall is the greatest so that the outdoor classroom looks good and there are no nasty gaps showing. This work is undertaken on site by our qualified installers.
Last but not least, we need to look at access. In the majority of cases, our products are delivered to site on the back of a 7.5 tonne lorry so we need to ascertain how near we can get to the site with such a truck. Ideally, we need to work on a carry distance of no more than 50m.
Of course our site visits are free of charge.
For more information, please visit the Hideout House Company on www.hideouthouse.com or call 01832 275902
