The Best Seats
In The House

Long known as the heart of any school, the gymnasium means much more than a place in which to play sports for many students and members of the community. These facilities are now hubs for meetings, assemblies, athletic competition and community events. As such, more schools and other facilities are quickly recognizing the branding power these areas possess.

In addition to customized flooring, score boards and bleachers, facility operators often look to the permanent wall padding installed on the walls of the gymnasium as a safety precaution as another place where their message, logo or team colours can be presented.

One of our more recent projects brought us back to the historic city of Montreal. Nestled along the St. Lawrence River, the vibrant city is a pleasure to not only visit but to do business in as well.

The call came in a few months ago from a general contractor who was looking for assistance in designing some highly-customized wall padding for the high school located just outside of the city’s downtown core.

Before organizing our first on-site visit to the school, we were provided with some technical drawings to help our team better understand the challenges ahead. Given the complexity of the design of the space we were immediately connected with the school-commissioned architecture firm with whom we visited the location with.

Nestled along picturesque Lake Champion in northern Quebec lies the small Cree community of Nemaska. Located nearly 1,100KM north of Montreal, the community is a wonderful place to relax and enjoy the area’s outdoors and diverse wildlife.

Nemaska, which means “Place to Fish” is well known as a premiere fresh water fishing locale and promotes sustainable methods of tourism in the area with help of the local residents.

Born and raised with a strong connection to the outdoors, residents are well versed in hunting, fishing, trapping and other outdoor pursuits and continue to cherish and pass down this heritage to the next generation. Serving as home to such a diverse selection of outdoor activities, the community is known for camping and canoe tours during the summer, ice fishing, dogsledding and snowmobiling in the winter and various other events and activities throughout the year.

Directly translated as “the path of harmony through martial practice,” the martial art of aikibudo is unique in that both the attacker and the defender are referred to as partners rather than adversaries. The Japanese martial art is unique in that the traditional philosopher recognizes neither a winner nor a loser.

Tracing its roots back to the 1930s, this martial art has gained international acclaim in recent years, particularly in France, as well as in Europe and North America.

As part of one of our more recent projects, we were introduced to the art of aikibudo by the highly-trained team at Judo Aikibudo in eastern Quebec. As a borough of beautiful and historic Quebec City, the team at Judo Aikibudo specializes not only in aikibudo but also in other martial arts such as judo, tai-chi and self-defense training for women.

When it comes to developing the next generation of technical engineers in Canada, Montreal’s École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS) is a market leader. Ranked as the number one engineering school in the province of Quebec and fourth across Canada for the total number of engineering diplomas awarded on an annual basis ÉTS is a leader in developing engineering talent.

Tracing its roots back into the mid-1970s, ÉTS is a practical institution accredited by the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board and is located in Montreal’s Griffintown neighbourhood.

Residing on the forefront of technology and innovation, the school reached out to our team in Montreal to discuss some unique needs for a program that involved rigorous testing of drones. With technology continuing to change the landscape and industry of these small, piloted aircraft, students at ÉTS were in need of an area indoors in which they could perform test flights and operations.

Dedicated to providing every child with the very best in educational opportunities, Ivy Hill Elementary School in Newark, New Jersey is making good on their goal to develop their student body into successful members of the community.

Located in the upper West Ward of Newark, Ivy Hill serves over 570 students across grades PreK3 to grade eight. Occupying the former location of Vailsburg Middle School, Ivy Hill is celebrating 10 years of operation after opening their doors in the fall of 2007. As a result of school reorganization efforts in Newark, which saw a shift away from the middle school model, the school today is fully integrated and aims to prepare students for high school and beyond within the boundaries of their historic location.

When it comes to creating a barrier that is safe for players and one that can keep the game contained, solutions vary. From netting to fencing products, there is no shortage of options on the market today that can keep pucks, balls and players inside a pre-determined field of play.

With a rise in organized street hockey tournaments, backyard games and other events, the need for a safe alternative to rigid fence barriers is now more apparent than ever. As parents, organizers and players aim to keep play as safe as possible, many have entered into the foray of custom padding barriers for their facility or event.

When shopping for any type of padding, whether it be for an athletic institution, for use on walls for protection or for tumbling exercises such as gymnastics, you have likely been met with some confusing verbiage.

As each type of padding is filled with a different type of foam, the materials used and the way in which it is constructed can vary widely depending on the intended use of that particular piece of padding.

When reading specifications, the “ingredients” used to describe what they are made of can elicit the feeling of ready obscure ingredients found in some of your favourite foods. For many of us, we are unsure of what exactly they mean, what they are made of and which are good for us.

Two such ingredients found in most of our padding are polyethylene and polyurethane. While somewhat confusing by name, their differences are quite important when selecting padding for your home or facility.  As such, we will break each down below and give a few examples as to which each is best suited for.

When it comes to our custom padding department, most often associate our products with the athletic market. While we undoubtedly specialize in that particular market given the complimentary products we carry and manufacture, the fact remains that our reach goes well beyond that.

With regards to padding, in particular, it has the most far-reaching capabilities among our growing product line. Given our ability to customize each and every order, our padding department services the health industry and has many applications in the industrial environment as well.

As large industrial facilities such as warehouses continue to push the envelope to offer their valued employees a safe work environment, padding has become a natural fit. As additional operators find new ways to keep their employees safe, they often lean on our expertise to get the job done correctly.

The sounds of our local parks and recreational areas are often found by following the joyful shrieks and giggles of happy children. As more municipalities across Canada and the United States continue to allocate funding to these outdoor areas, their popularity is growing in tandem with said investment.

Heading to your local park or playground is the best way to appreciate these types of investments. The design and quality of the equipment found onsite has progressed a great deal from what was being installed just a few short years ago.

Today’s playgrounds and recreational areas are built with safety in mind. Outside of the equipment, however, much attention must be paid to the amenities located around these areas as well. Posts, columns, trash receptacles, planters and other site additions must also be taken into account when assessing the overall safety of the recreational area.