Greenvale School, Shade Sails Case Study
- Product:
- Able Shade Sails
Greenvale School, London (Waters Road Site)
Facilities Management Company: Equans
Product: Able Shade Sail Array
Size: 6m x 5.8m x 6m x 6.4m (square) & 6.4m x 6m x 5.4m x 6m (square)
Fabric Colour: Aquamarine
Installation Date: July & August 2025
Installation Duration: Posts – x2 days & Sails – x1 day
Intended Use: Sensory Garden Shade
Brief
Greenvale School is an existing customer of Able Canopies, having invested in two Coniston Wall Mounted Canopies in the past. They are based in Lewisham, London and are a community special school for secondary aged pupils with severe learning difficulties.
Their Waters Road site was purpose built under the Building Schools for the Future program in 2007 and caters for their KS3 and KS4 students. This means that the school is a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) which is managed by the facilities division of Equans.
Equans are also an existing customer of Able Canopies; we have worked with them in the past on numerous other schools they manage. Their Operations Manager therefore got in touch with us in March 2025 to discuss shade and shelter options at the school’s Waters Road site, as they were looking to cover an area in their sensory garden.
Proposal
After completing a full site survey at the school, we were able to provide Equans with a full quotation as requested.
At the site survey, it was discovered that a shade sail array would fit the schools requirements perfectly for their sensory garden. They were looking to create a cool, shaded area and shade sails are perfect for exactly that. They are available in a range of playful and subtle tones, allowing you to create the ambiance that would match the setting perfectly.
To help the school choose the right colour, we sent them some shade sail fabric samples in the post, so they could see the colours in person. Various computer screens can cause colours to appear different, so seeing them in person helped the school colour match the area perfectly, ensuring they would be happy with the end result.
Both the school and Equans were delighted with the design proposal and placed an order for the shade sails for a summer holiday installation.
The Installation
When installing shade sails, we install the posts and leave them to set fully which takes 3-5 weeks. We then return to site to install the shade sail fabric. Ensuring the posts are fully set before installing the fabric means we can fully tension the fabric to ensure there is no sagging, and that the school is left with a high-quality shade sail array that creates a striking focal point to their outdoor area.
We installed the shade sail posts at Greenvale School over two days in July 2025, and returned to site in August to install the fabric sails within just one day.
We think the end results looks great and the Aquamarine fabric sets the area off perfectly, creating a stylish, shaded sensory area within the school grounds.
