The Best Seats
In The House

Rock and roll, bell bottoms, free love and extremely heavy folding gym partitions are just a few characteristics of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. While the former are relatively unthreatening, the latter has become one of the biggest safety concerns athletic facility operators face today.

After serving the purpose of dividing a space for a number of decades, the fact that many of these antiquated systems are still in operation today pose a variety of safety risks to both operators and participants.

Designed using heavy materials and often with not enough horsepower to operate them, these outdated gym dividers have made unfavourable appearances in the media over the past two decades, having caused a number of of injuries and even some deaths.

As any of us can imagine, a system installed 30 or more years ago is naturally prone to malfunction, increasing maintenance costs and overall cumbersome operation. While many of these relics have long since been replaced, there are still many that remain in operation in gymnasiums across Canada and the United States.

In one of our most recent projects, we were brought in to assess the condition of an old folding partition in the gymnasium at Bayside Secondary School. The board was interested in a complete solution to not only remove the dangerous partition but to also replace it with a state-of-the-art gym divider designed with operation and safety in mind.

Our team was quick to arrive at the site to assess both the size and scope of the removal of the existing partition as well as to assess possible installation points for a new gym divider curtain.

We immediately identified that the original steel beam track that was already in place could more than accommodate the new system, providing instant savings to the school board.

After our team acquired detailed measurements and accompanying photographic details of the space, our design team got to work visualizing the installation of a new top-roll gym divider curtain for the Bayside gymnasium.

Once design plans were complete and approved by the board, our team was once again on-site to safely dismantle and dispose of the existing partition.

Meeting the new curtain at the school, the brand new system was quickly and safely installed by our installation team followed by a quick training session on operation for staff at the school.

Today, the Bayside gymnasium is once again divided for additional programming and flexibility paired with the peace of mind that comes with upgraded safety precautions for both staff and students at the school.