The Best Seats
In The House

Headquarted in Mississauga, we were once again enlisted by our partners at the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board for some recent upgrades to one of their schools. Fresh off the completion of the installation of new telescopic bleachers for Father Michael Goetz Secondary School, the board reached out to us to complete another project within their 148-member school board.

Much the same way many of these projects come to fruition, the board determined that the time had come to replace the outdated and unsafe wooden retractable bleachers at Notre Dame Secondary School in Brampton.

Serving approximately 1,500 students across the Heart Lake region in Brampton and the communities of Caledon, Orangeville, Bolton, and Georgetown, the school has been in operation at its current location since 1988.

In recent years there has been an upswing in money spent on high school athletics programs as well as on training facilities. While in the past, sports as well as arts programs in schools were typically the departments to have budgets cut. However, in some areas, this is no longer necessarily the case.

Athletic directors have worked diligently to fight for the attention and recognition that sports departments are now getting in some locations. Why? The coaches and directors are adamant that athletic programs make a significant impact on the educational development of youth. In sports, you must teach and encourage sportsmanship, teamwork, perseverance, fair play and self-care and these are the exact qualities and values that help youth understand the basics of being a good leader and understanding the importance of being cooperative with others. Athletics require scheduled practice times that are focused on specific goals within that practice time. For students who may be struggling academically, sports could be their outlet. Sports bring people together, even if it’s strictly from a conversation aspect.

Administering Roman Catholic schools scattered throughout the western portion of eastern Ontario, the Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic District School Board is comprised of over 30 elementary schools and 11 secondary schools in the region.

As part of their equitable and inclusive education standards, the schools residing within the board are built on the foundations of discipleship, scholarship, and stewardship. As such, a number of the schools are equipped with specialized rooms that allow for a quiet or safe place for students who sometimes thrive by being temporarily removed from the often noisy and busy environments characteristic of the classroom.

One of the fastest growing trends in stadiums and sports arenas today is the popularity of LED lighting, which is replacing the old-school metal-halide lights. What initially sparked the interest of professional sports venues was the estimated 70% energy cost savings. However, the fans immediately noticed that the LED lighting enhanced the look of the game immensely.

Why LED Lighting?

While stadiums across the nation are switching to the LED systems, they are becoming the standard during the construction of new stadiums as well. Why? These systems use less energy and they are much more cost efficient to maintain. The LED lights offer longer burn time, they are brighter, they do not require “warm-up” time like the older metal halide lights did, and they do not flicker, due to the higher level of energy efficiency.

One of our more recent projects brought us back to Canada’s most southern city, Windsor. Tucked along the Detroit River directly across from the Motor City (Detroit), Windsor is a major player in the Canadian automotive industry and the area’s 400,000 residents.

Working closely with the Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board in southern Ontario, we were contracted to perform some work at Holy Names Secondary School on the south side of Windsor.

Home of the Knights athletic program, the school was scheduling a two-phase approach to the construction of two sets of large bleachers and a press box to adorn their new field and track.

The forgotten basement, the storage room, or the outbuilding that hasn’t been used in ages are all examples of projects we have had some involvement in over the past couple of years.

While we do spend a lot of our time on baseball and football fields and inside gymnasiums, we are often tasked with projects that require a refreshed vision and some old-fashioned ingenuity.

As space becomes limited as programming grows, planners, managers and operators are sometimes left scrambling for additional areas in which sports and other activities can be performed. Rather than incurring the massive expense of an addition to an existing facility or building an entirely new building, many are taking stock of what they can presently maximize.

In some cases, these spaces are basements, storage areas, sheds, barns and other such structures and with some planning, can be transformed into wonderful facilities all in themselves.

Taking a different approach to traditional child care, Children of America is education-focused in caring for the next generation. Following structured curriculum, Children of America has grown to become the number-one preschool in the United States and currently serves children and families in 12 states across 64 individual locations.

During the winter months of 2018, our team was in contact with key stakeholders from within the organization as they were in the market for some durable and safe wall padding for their location in Woodbridge, Virginia. The location had a specialized playroom for children that had become a slight safety concern as the room contained a variety of corners and pillars that could pose potential hazards for children at play.

While we do indeed spend the bulk of our time working primarily with commercial and industrial clientele such as municipalities, colleges, universities and school boards, we do dabble from time to time in the residential space.

Outside of smaller padding or gym mat orders we often receive from private customers, we do get other large projects suited for homes, home gyms and backyards across Canada and the United States. We have supplied custom “Tar Heel blue” wall padding for a UNC fan, some bleachers and benches for a California resident, residential quiet room padding in the province of Quebec, among many others.

Named after a dear friend of school founder Ed King, Father Michael Goetz Secondary School (FMGSS) first opened the doors to its current location in 1990. Originally located in Etobicoke, the current location is situated in Mississauga and currently serves upwards of 1,300 students.

As part of some renovations scheduled to take place over the summer of 2018, our team was contacted by members of the Dufferin Peel Catholic School Board to discuss the possibility of replacing some outdated seating located in the gymnasium of FMGSS.

Athletic programming is a crowded space. With more participants perhaps than ever before, facility owners and operators are always scrambling to not only offer cutting-edge equipment but to also ensure every inch of space is properly utilized.

When it comes to gymnasium equipment, the list is long and highly customized. With expansions in program offerings in educational and community-based facilities, the need for additional equipment is seemingly never ending.

For operators of busy facilities, the need for speed and automation is growing with each day that passes. When it comes to educational facilities such as schools, colleges and universities, the gymnasium is typically a heavily scheduled location, catering to a variety of programming and athletic competition.