The Best Seats
In The House

Serving more than 25,000 students, one of our recent projects landed us at Thompson Rivers University in beautiful British Columbia. The school, which offers over 140 on-campus programs and 60-plus Open Learning programs, continues to grow across its main campus in Kamloops and across its secondary campus in Williams Lake. 

In addition to its highly respected academics programming, TRU is also home to the Wolfpack athletics program, which has been making a name for itself in soccer, basketball and volleyball, among others. As part of their budding athletic programming, our team was contacted to help design some padding for use in the gymnasium at the Kamloops campus. Key stakeholders at TRU were looking to provide protection for their student athletes from collisions into walls below basketball nets; one of the most common areas we provide padding for in gymnasiums.

While we work with a lot of existing parks, schools and communities, we always love being a part of a brand new development as well. Being brought in early on a new project always marks an exciting opportunity for our organization and for the project we are working on.

After the announcement of a new ball diamond in Truro, Nova Scotia, our team was tapped to help design the new bleacher seating that will soon be placed in the new development. The complete development comprises two locations.

Located in Dieppe, New Brunswick in eastern Canada, École Anna-Malenfant is an all-french school that proudly preserves the region’s francophone and Acadian heritage through both academics and athletics. Serving as  home to nearly 700 students from kindergarten to grade five, the school’s gymnasium is a hub for sports, assemblies and other gatherings.

As with many established schools and facilities, upgrading outdated equipment is always top of mind. In the case of École Anna-Malenfant, we were brought in to help replace and install some new indoor bleachers for the school’s gymnasium. The existing telescopic bleacher system was deemed no longer safe for operation and so we were contacted to come up with a solution that could continue to grow with the school.

In what has been a project for over three years now, we were once again called upon by our friends at the City of Cornwall to help them continue their goal of upgrading the bleacher seating at many of their city parks. What kicked off in 2021 with three new 5-row bleachers in three separate parks, continued in 2022 with three new parks added to the list. In an effort to keep things rolling in the right direction, it was time earlier this year to upgrade another park’s seating structures.

While going through some major renovations, the City of Ottawa contacted us to help put the finishing touches on the new and improved Overbrook Community Centre. Located just south of Ottawa’s downtown core, the community centre recently went through some upgrades that included environmental design features with the purpose of creating a healthier indoor environment for all users.

As part of some of the upgrades slated for the indoor gymnasium, the City reached out to our team to help safely divide the gymnasium to increase athletic programming at this hub for community fitness and sport.

In one of our largest telescopic bleacher jobs to feature our ground-breaking GameDay GraFX bleacher logos, this project had our whole team excited. Located at All Saints High School in Kanata, Ontario, we were brought in to provide an updated solution to some outdated athletic infrastructure.

An old set of wooden retractable bleachers in the gymnasium that had been manually operated, had fallen below the safety standards dictated by local and national building code requirements. We were therefore invited to visit the site to assess the situation. After taking detailed measurements, we got to work designing a new seating solution for one of the area’s largest high schools. With existing ‘pocket walls’, or walls that are designed to accommodate bleachers, the new bleachers would also have to fit within the existing dimensions.

In a project that has been a long-time coming, our team, along with many others are proud to announce that the Thunderchild Wellness Centre is now serving the community. In a project that began about five years ago, hit a few snags along the way, but eventually got back on track, is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved.

The new 90,000 sq. ft. facility spared no expense for the Thunderchild First Nation community. Boasting a full-sized hockey rink, a fieldhouse featuring the ability to switch between an indoor soccer pitch, a lacrosse field, three volleyball courts, basketball courts and badminton courts. Beyond the athletic space, the center also features an entire medical wing, a fitness center and daycare facility. With hopes of becoming a central gathering point for the Nation and neighboring communities, it will also serve as a place to hold special and sacred community-based events such as weddings, band meetings, open town halls, indoor pow wow's, ceremonial and cultural events. 

As we’ve said many times before, upgrading outdated and unsafe bleachers is a big part of what we do and shows very little signs of slowing down. Given that these seating structures are often located outdoors, years of abuse from the elements and spectators alike in time, turns to ruin.

Add in updated safety code requirements and you’ve got a situation in which schools, municipalities and other facilities are beginning to scramble to get all of their bleacher seating up to speed. 

Ahead of this year’s summer Olympic Games in Paris, Cadillac Fairview teamed up with Team Canada in an effort to expand opportunities for play this summer with the launch of “CF Play Makers,” - an initiative for school-aged children to harness the power of sports and playtime.

Looking to give children more access to physical play opportunities, the program aims to promote the many health benefits of physical play while inspiring a passion for playtime and organized sports. Starting in Ontario, the program will spread across Canada by refurbishing play spaces at schools and other community spaces.

With the bats officially swinging now in southern Ontario, this project came to fruition long before this year’s baseball season got underway. During the fall of 2023, the Municipality of North Middlesex reached out to us to help them keep balls in play at a couple of their local ball diamonds and we vigorously answered the call.

With the big bats dominating last year’s season, concerns were on the rise at both Parkhill Park and Ailsa Craig Community Park. With homes located nearby, balls were occasionally landing very close by or, in some cases, inside the yards and key stakeholders wanted to rectify the situation before someone got hurt. Add in the fact that these two ball diamonds were now also closely situated to new skateparks, the municipality wasted no time sourcing a solution to protect those users as well.