Stockwood Park Academy, Luton

Stockwood Park Academy in Luton is one of the academies in The Shared Learning Trust which operate a number of schools in Bedfordshire. Waverley were asked to build a 50m long free-standing canopy to provide shelter for students as they queued at the food kiosk.

The requirement

The school was built in 2007 under the government’s PFI scheme and it features a large central courtyard which is used as a breakout space at lunchtimes. A new food kiosk to serve hot meals to students was going to be installed at one end of the courtyard and the school needed to provide cover for students entering the courtyard from the main doors at the other end.

Design challenges and solutions

The canopy could not be fixed to the building as there were issues with the building structure which was being reviewed by the original building contractor. As funds permit the school plans to add to the canopy on another two sides of the courtyard, so the canopy had to be designed in such as a way that the next phase of canopy could be joined to the existing canopy at 90° with minimal disruption.

Thanks to the versatile nature of the WeatherSpan° system both design challenges could be easily accommodated. Waverley used a rear ‘goal post frame’ system which was installed approx. 100mm away from the outside wall of the building. The canopy, with a 3m projection was then installed to this frame to create a free-standing mono-pitch canopy. At the end of the canopy where the 2nd phase of canopy will be joined, Waverley designed the roof with a mitred corner so that the next canopy can join seamlessly to the existing.

The outcome

A three man installation team installed the 50m x 3m canopy during two weeks of the summer holiday. The existing block paving was carefully removed for the post foundations and reinstated afterwards. The RAL7016 Anthracite Grey frame blends in well with the building . There are no visible gutters or downpipes as these are concealed within the canopy frame and the down pipes exit the front posts just above ground level to the water can disperse into adjoining flower beds.