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As part of a mandate from the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the largest school board in Eastern Ontario, we were again invited to participate in a safety-focused project. As with any piece of aging equipment, there are times when replacement simply makes the most sense and when it comes to outdated folding gym partitions, this is often the case.

These bulky structures, often installed decades prior, can become unsafe and in some cases, have proven to be fatal for students and participants. In the interest of safety, schools across North America are painfully diligent in maintaining and inspecting any of these active systems. When it is recommended that they get replaced, most don’t delay in getting the right team on-site to begin the process.

Working locally here in the Ottawa area, we were involved in another exciting project with the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB). Covering an area of roughly 2,900 square kilometers in the National Capital Region, the OCSB is home to over 4,600 staff members and operates a total of 85 institutions including 69 elementary schools, 15 high schools and one intermediate school.

As part of some sweeping upgrades to a number of the schools under the board’s management, we were invited to scope a unique project for a couple of the schools not far from our headquarters.

As is common in many aging educational facilities, some of the athletic equipment previously installed inside the gymnasium can become deemed unsafe for use by students and staff members.

One area of great concern and one which we have years of experience in handling is the demolition, removal, and replacement of outdated partition walls used to separate athletic spaces, mainly in gymnasiums.

Named after one of the most prolific Canadian writers of the nineteenth century,François-Xavier Garneau, the École Secondaire Catholique Garneau follows this historical Canadian’s lead on continuing to develop French Canadian culture.

Located in the east of Canada’s Capital, the school’s motto revolves around the words of Michael Montaigne who said, “The gain of the study, it is becoming better and wiser.” Today, École Secondaire Catholique Garneau invites students to engage in a perpetual momentum of improvement, progress,and wisdom through the pursuit of knowledge and excellence.

Headquartered just south of Canada’s capital, the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario (CDSBEO) proudly offers quality Catholic education and programming to students across the eastern regions of the province. Blending specialized learning opportunities, athletics, and faith, the school board is committed to social justice and serves as the board of nearly 40 schools in Ontario.

One of the most common safety risks in gymnasiums across North America today is undoubtedly outdated gym partitions. These massive dividers were commonplace in most gymnasiums throughout the 80s and 90s but with the development of new technology, improvements in design and additional safety mechanisms, they are quickly becoming dangerous relics of the past.

On the west-end of the Island of Montreal lies the City of Kirkland. This small suburb serves as a residential community close to the hustle and bustle of downtown Montreal. Originally incorporated as a municipality in 1961, Kirkland was merged into the City of Montreal in 2002 becoming a borough before eventually being re-constituted as an independent city in January of 2006.

The City of Kirkland approached our team in September 2018 as they were looking to secure product and pricing information for a pair of top-roll gym divider curtains as they prepared the 2019 city budget.

After a couple of in-person visits by our installation team, we promptly provided detailed pricing and specifications which aided us in providing the best possible solution for their needs. 

When it comes to your school or local gymnasium, much of the activities that take place on the court are athletic in nature and make up the majority of the time and energy spent in the space. For many facility managers and operators out there, getting bogged down in the day-to-day can sometimes get in the way of ensuring that these types of athletic spaces are working for us as well.

The fact is, your gymnasium should also serve your facility, be it a school or community centre, as an additional source of revenue. While this is common sense to many, there are a number of ways you might not have thought of that can contribute to your operation’s bottom line.

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.

Gymnasium use for a multitude of activities is on the rise, leading to a greater demand for proper and safe separation of these athletic spaces to maximize their functionality.

Whether your facility is in need of an upgraded divider for safety reasons or you are shopping for a new divider for an existing gym or new build, there are a number of factors to keep in mind during the planning process.

While relatively simple in design, their nuances can impact not only how the curtains themselves perform but also how they impact the functionality of your gymnasium as a whole. Here’s a few design elements to keep in mind before you purchase your next gym divider curtain.

The safety of a gym is only as good as the condition and configuration of the equipment inside of it. With a rash of unfortunate incidents over the past decade or so, a large cohort of facilities have been busy assessing and repairing or replacing equipment known to be the root cause a variety of safety hazards inside gymnasiums.

While much of these problems are overhead, such as ceiling-suspended basketball systems, light fixtures, and roof trusses, another large area of concern for operators are outdated dividers and partitions.

Many of these products were installed throughout the 1970s and 1980s and as one can imagine, leaps and bounds have been made in the design and development of such products since.

These existing partitions were often constructed using heavy materials and were rarely equipped with safety mechanisms such as two-key operation and sensors to detect obstructions when opening or closing.

As such, a large portion of what we do is assess the safety of these existing structures, which usually require replacement.