The Best Seats
In The House

With the continuing increase in mental health awareness, more and more educational facilities are turning to safe rooms, de-escalation rooms, sensory environments and the like to the keep students safe and happy while at school.

Over the past five years, our team has been involved in the process of designing, consulting and installing these types of highly specialized environments across North America. These spaces can be found in schools, mental health facilities, addiction centres, hospitals and private residences, and research shows that when utilized properly, these environments are extremely beneficial to their users.

As part of a mandate from the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the largest school board in Eastern Ontario, we were again invited to participate in a safety-focused project. As with any piece of aging equipment, there are times when replacement simply makes the most sense and when it comes to outdated folding gym partitions, this is often the case.

These bulky structures, often installed decades prior, can become unsafe and in some cases, have proven to be fatal for students and participants. In the interest of safety, schools across North America are painfully diligent in maintaining and inspecting any of these active systems. When it is recommended that they get replaced, most don’t delay in getting the right team on-site to begin the process.

Incorporated in 1972, the neighbourhood of Bramalea was created as an innovative “new town” as part of the city of Brampton, Ontario. Created by farmer William Sheard, the name of the community is made up of the BRAM from Bramption, MAL from Malton (a former neighbouring town) and the LEA from the old British word meaning meadow or grassland.

As part of this community, the Bramalea Baptist Church as founded ahead of the new town’s development and has been a staple in the community since its inception. Seeking to serve the spiritual needs of the greater Brampton community, the church has served as a hub not only for religious practice but also for community learning and support programming.

If your facility is fortunate enough to have a retractable bleacher system in place, you likely cannot imagine life without it. These systems are particularly handy in spaces such as gymnasiums, lecture halls, pool decks and other spaces that require a little flexibility and versatility when it comes to seating.

For these reasons alone, there truly is no better choice than purchasing a bank or two of retractable bleachers that easily open or close on command (in some cases by manual command).

Much is riding on your seating and the moment it becomes unsafe is the moment it becomes a serious concern for any facility manager. With safety being of paramount concern, irregular operation of any kind should be carefully inspected and any problems exposed, and remedied right away.

Working locally here in the Ottawa area, we were involved in another exciting project with the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB). Covering an area of roughly 2,900 square kilometers in the National Capital Region, the OCSB is home to over 4,600 staff members and operates a total of 85 institutions including 69 elementary schools, 15 high schools and one intermediate school.

As part of some sweeping upgrades to a number of the schools under the board’s management, we were invited to scope a unique project for a couple of the schools not far from our headquarters.

As is common in many aging educational facilities, some of the athletic equipment previously installed inside the gymnasium can become deemed unsafe for use by students and staff members.

One area of great concern and one which we have years of experience in handling is the demolition, removal, and replacement of outdated partition walls used to separate athletic spaces, mainly in gymnasiums.

When it comes to martial arts training facilities, no two are exactly the same. While many differ in design, they also differ in use and specialization. When it comes to dedicated martial arts gyms, the choice of padding and mats is usually of the highest grade possible.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are a number of multi-use facilities, community centres and the like that also offer martial arts programming and for their uses, a different grade of padding could suit their situation more specifically.

While we certainly have the ability to get highly customized in designing any martial arts-style padding, we traditionally offer two main martial arts padding products for these highly specialized facilities.

Cartwheels, back handsprings, handstands, tumbling and balancing are all part of the day-to-day operations of today’s busy gymnastics facilities.

One of the fastest-growing segments in terms of athletic participation, today’s facilities are getting bigger and often require a great deal of planning to set up but also to keep current with what participants and parents want.

With over 40 years in the business, we have seen the growth in this sector firsthand and have adjusted our product offering accordingly. In addition to growing our product line to meet the demands, we have also turned to research and development to ensure we carry the products that are the safest available.

Named after one of the most prolific Canadian writers of the nineteenth century,François-Xavier Garneau, the École Secondaire Catholique Garneau follows this historical Canadian’s lead on continuing to develop French Canadian culture.

Located in the east of Canada’s Capital, the school’s motto revolves around the words of Michael Montaigne who said, “The gain of the study, it is becoming better and wiser.” Today, École Secondaire Catholique Garneau invites students to engage in a perpetual momentum of improvement, progress,and wisdom through the pursuit of knowledge and excellence.

As our awareness of mental health continues to expand so too does the need for properly planned and inclusive spaces. These spaces are highly customized in design and often feature unique elements created with the end user or users in mind.

Today, these padded spaces are used in a number of different applications ranging from healthcare facilities and educational facilities such as schools, to a variety of mental health institutions.

With the rise in demand for these types of spaces, we have transformed our custom padding department to not only handle the increased volume of requests but have also invested in research and partnerships that aid us in ensuring they are as safe and welcoming as possible.

Working closely once again with our partners at Avron Canada, we completed an incredibly important job which began in late summer.  Keeping with the rising trend of creating inclusive and safe spaces for children with special needs or for those who simply need reprieve from time to time, our attention turned to one school that wanted desperately to make a difference for one of their students.

The school was home to one student that for reasons unknown, would become incredibly self-abusive. While the school did have a small “safe” room, it was quite small and was not set up to accommodate him.