The Best Seats
In The House

If you have ever had the opportunity to observe a particularly large retractable bleacher system, there is likely little doubt in your mind as to the significant weight of one of these structures. Used in gymnasiums across Canada and the United States, these seating systems are space-saving solutions that are easily rolled out for use when the time or event calls for it.

These wonderfully engineered systems are undoubtedly helpful for various organizations, schools, universities, and public and private athletic facilities. While the majority of the larger versions of these structures are powered electrically and easily moved into the open and closed positions, some have been installed without these powerful motors and rely solely on human operation.

Situated in Kingston, Ontario, we were once again called upon by our esteemed partners and colleagues at Queen’s University.

In 2015, we were awarded the contract to take the lead on the revitalization and rebuilding of Richardson Stadium, a project that saw our team build out the entire stadium from the ground up. We designed and installed seating for 8,000 spectators in what is today known as one of Canada’s premiere collegiate athletic stadiums.

We’ve been fortunate to have a long-tenured relationship with this prestigious institution and continue to foster that relationship to this day.

We were recently called back to Richardson Stadium to address a serious health and safety issue on the outside of the stadium. Located beside the stadium is the school’s maintenance compound where staff members routinely work on keeping the grounds in tip top shape. With a large retaining wall just outside of the building, it was deemed unsafe by officials from the school and they were looking for an immediate solution to protect all staff and others who might use the walkway.

Constructed in 2004, the Bell Sensplex serves as the official practice facility for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators hockey club. Built in partnership with the City of Ottawa, the 180,000 square foot facility boasts three NHL-sized ice surfaces, one Olympic-sized ice rink and an indoor fieldhouse and additionally serves a number of minor hockey leagues and short track speed skating clubs in the greater Ottawa region.

We were recently contacted by stakeholders from within the Sensplex organization with questions regarding some safety netting for the Olympic-sized rink inside this community-focused athletic facility.

When many of us think of bleachers, we instantly envision large stadiums and grandstands filled with happy spectators. While this is true of many of the bleachers we design and construct, the truth is, we also create a number of smaller, or low-rise options.

With every organization, facility, and team coming to the table with their own unique needs and circumstances, it’s not hard to imagine that there really is no one-size-fits-all approach to bleacher seating. Generally speaking, many customers come to us looking to solve seating problems for anywhere from 20 to 100 spectators and this is where our low-rise options truly shine.

A common problem in the spring months for much of Canada and the United States is the risk of flooding from the melting of snow and the rising of rivers and other waterways. As we are seeing particularly in Canada over the past few weeks, flooding is ravaging communities here in our neck of the woods as well as in many others.

While the priority for assistance is focused primarily on residential properties (as it should be), those working in facility operation or management also know how detrimental Acts of God such as flooding can have on their facility.

That said, flooding from natural disasters is not the only risk these operators face with regards to water damage. Leaking roofs and faulty sprinkler systems, for example, can also wreak havoc on gymnasiums if too much time passes.

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.

One of our most recent projects took us to the Bay of Fundy on Canada’s East Coast to help the Boys and Girls Club, one of our favourite organizations. With locations throughout Canada and the United States, these clubs provide children and youth with life-changing programming and community-based services that aid them in developing the skills required to lead a healthy, productive life.

We have had the pleasure of working with a number of these clubs across North America and this time, we were happy to be involved with some work at the Boys and Girls Club of Saint John, New Brunswick.

As the topic of mental health continues to gain steam here in North America, schools across Canada and the United States are turning to safe rooms to help children deal with every day stress. While in some isolated cases, these rooms have come under fire because of blatant misuse by staff, the research suggests that when used properly, they are proven to calm students down in a safe and controlled manner.

While also used in a variety of other industries, schools in particular have taken notice of the advantages and importance of creating and constructing these types of spaces for their students.

It’s happening at community centres, sports fields, colleges, universities, and municipal properties across Canada and the United States. No, we aren’t talking about petty theft such as stolen cell phones and other small objects of value; we are talking about large-scale theft of valuable athletic equipment.

A project that was nearly 12 months in the making brought us back to beautiful Montreal, Quebec. Working closely with key stakeholders from the English Montreal School Board which services 41 elementary schools, 17 high schools, 7 adult education facilities, 6 vocational schools and 11 outreach schools on the island of Montreal, we were invited to a tender for some new seating.

The public tender outlined the details for four sections of prospective retractable bleacher sections for JFK High School located just north of the city’s downtown core.

Instead of the original four banks of seating that were to measure 16’ in length and have four rows of seating, our team looked at another possible solution for the school. Thinking a little outside of the box, our team went to tender instead with a proposed bid that outlined just two banks of retractable bleachers that would measure 32’ and would feature four rows of seating.