Home to over 2,250 students, St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School (CSS) is the largest school in Hamilton, graduating approximately 400 students each year with about 90% of those students leaving to pursue post-secondary education.
With an unwavering commitment to excellence in academics, the school is also home to over 70 sports teams, each of which have won at least one championship in the school’s history.
Keeping up with the level of athletics offered at such a large school is no easy feat and requires an innovative approach to facility management and operations. With one of the most decorated football programs in the province, the school’s main athletic field is often the focal point of athletics. The indoor gymnasium however, was in need of some upgrades to bring it to the level where it could rival the calibre of the outdoor field.
With outdated wooden retractable bleachers installed inside the gymnasium, the school was in search of an upgraded solution to seat upwards of 500 spectators.
Following some detailed discussions, it was decided that we were to supply and install a total of four new banks of telescopic bleachers. While telescopic bleachers are among the most versatile seating structures on the market today, the school wanted to take it a step further and have two of the prospective banks of bleachers completely portable in nature.
With two banks of bleachers set to be installed permanently to the walls in the gymnasium, the remaining two bleachers would remain portable and would allow operations staff to safely place the seating structures in the practice gym or move them behind the baseline of the main court, effectively creating a bowl-like stadium experience right inside the school’s gymnasium.
After designs were approved, the units were shipped directly to the school in Hamilton and met by our team who first safely removed and disposed of the existing wooden bleachers before installing the new bleacher systems.
Today, the gymnasium at St. Thomas More CSS is truly unique and offers a real competitive advantage to the athletes on the court as well as the fans in the bleachers.