A lot of our outdoor classrooms and school classroom buildings feature cedar as the principal default timber or as external cladding on our timber framed buildings. And there are some very good reasons for this from a school’s point of view & perspective. We list below some of cedar’s principal qualities and why it is of a benefit therefore within a school environment.

Western Red Cedar is a well accepted softwood timber from British Columbia in Canada, renowned for its beautiful appearance, its ability to last for many years without maintenance and its acoustical and warmth insulation properties. Slow growing and naturally durable, it is the product of choice amongst architects and recognised worldwide as being the ideal material for residential and commercial buildings. We buy cedar in container load quantities, direct from the sawmills of British Columbia, and as a result we are able to pass on to our customers the cost benefit of the savings that we can achieve.

Decay Resistance

One of its most well-known and valuable characteristics is its natural high resistance to decay. Cedar has its own built-in preservatives known as thujaplicins, which enable cedar to last for many years and under most conditions. Unlike most other softwoods, it requires no artificial treatment  such as tanalith and is therefore one of the most durable coniferous species.

This is the reason we are able to offer an extended 15 year guarantee against timber rot, decay and degradation on our cedar products.

Natural Insulator

Cedar has a low density value which not only makes it an easy wood to work with but also it massively enhances its natural insulation value. Timbers with a low density value typically have the highest insulation properties and values because the cavities within the wood fill with air – and air is one the best known thermal insulators. Timber is a natural insulator anyway (hence the reason why people in northern Scandinavia all live in log cabins for example!) but cedar stands out as being one of the best and is way better than brick, concrete or steel. So this means reduced running costs for a school. And remember insulation is there for two reasons – to keep in the heat and to keep out the heat so the building is kept cool during the hot summer months and warm when winter comes.

Stability

It has a very low shrinkage factor which means that it has a high resistance to warping, twisting and checking which can be found amongst other softwood timbers. And it has high acoustical properties which means it can dampen vibrations.

Minimal Maintenance

From the point of view of degradation or rot, no treatment is required. From the point of view of colour change, cedar, like all other timbers, reacts to strong direct sunlight. Either schools can leave it and within two or three years, the cedar will turn from being a brown/red colour to a more mature silver/grey. Alternatively, cedar oil will maintain the original colour for a while but this is purely an aesthetic choice to make. But for those schools wanting to preserve the cedar tint for a longer period of time, then we recommend the use of Sikkens Novatech wood treatment. All our buildings are treated with this preservative and it is recommended that it be re-applied every 4 years or so a simple and it is an inexpensive application.

Environmental

Cedar, like the majority of timbers, leaves a very small environmental footprint. It grows naturally and therefore produces less waste. It also uses less energy compared to other materials. And a major factor is that wood absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere thereby reducing the world’s carbon emissions.

For further details on the benefits of using cedar, please visit the website given below:

http://www.realcedar.com/why-real-cedar/

The Hideout House Company Ltd

Tel: 01865 858982 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com

We are constantly asked as to whether outdoor classrooms require planning permission and if they are also subject to building regulation approval. Always a tricky subject to have a 100% definitive answer but there are certain guidelines to work to. I will list these below:

Planning Permission – the majority of our outdoor classroom installations have been installed at schools without the need for planning permission as they fall under what is called Permitted Development Rights (PDR). And the below are the criteria for what constitutes permitted development:

By virtue of Part 7 Class M of the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 the relevant provisions can be summarised as follows:-

The erection, extension or alteration of a school is permitted development provided that:-

(a) the cumulative gross floor space of any buildings erected, extended or altered would ​not ​exceed—

(i)25% of the gross floor space of the original school, college, university or hospital buildings; or

(ii)100 square metres,

whichever is the lesser;

(b) ​no ​part of the development would be within 5 metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the premises;

(c) ​no​ land used as a playing field at any time in the 5 years before the development commenced and remaining in this use​,​ could no longer be so usedas the result of the development​;

(d)the height of any new building erected would ​not ​exceed 5 metres;

(e)the height of the building as extended or altered would not​ exceed—

(i)if within 10 metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the premises, 5 metres; or

(ii)in all other cases, the height of the building being extended or altered;

(f)the development is not within the curtilage of a listed building;

But I do reiterate that we, as a company, are not planning consultants and we would always advise schools to check first with their local planning authority as to whether planning is required. A lot of planning authorities nowadays offer a “pre-app” service whereby you pay a nominal fee to the authority for their learned opinion before filing a full planning application.

Building Regulations – if an outdoor classroom building is less than 30m2, has no sleeping accommodation, is wholly detached from the main school building and is in excess of 1m from the boundary, then it is exempt from notification to the local authority. However, all good suppliers/manufacturers should follow the guidance in building regulations to ensure structural stability, adequate ventilation, safety glass is used where applicable, prevention from moisture ingress and a school should also ensure that the building is included in the school’s fire management plan.

For further information please contact the Hideout House Company on 01865 858982 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com

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6m x 4m rectangular outdoor classroom with French doors

We have been asked quite a lot recently to provide outdoor classrooms to be used as “break-out” rooms or as some schools call them, nurture rooms or escape rooms. These are essentially additional spaces where children can be taken out of the melee of the average school day and classroom environment and be given a more personal and intense one-on-one time with teachers and staff. We have found that they need to cater for no more than 15 pupils and staff at any one given time or session.

The reason for having an independent room for this is two fold. The first one being space or should I say lack of it. I have spoken to so many schools who are literally bursting at the seams anyway so there is simply no available room or space to conduct these sessions with pupils – so necessity anyway dictates having something additional sited in the playground or school playing field. Secondly, schools like to have an environment which is out of the main school building anyway as it fosters a sense of calm and re-assurance.

But what sort or type of a building does a school have in this instance? They don’t really want to have a traditional open-sided, gazebo style outdoor classroom (usually octagonal or rectangular) as this limits its use as these rooms need to be used all year round and in all weathers and seasons. A mobile or modular classroom might be too big for this requirement as well and perhaps not affordable in the current financial climate.

This is where our Enclosed outdoor classrooms come into their own as they fall conveniently between the above two options. In the main, they are all below 30m2 so that building regulation approval is not required. They are available in a whole host of sizes and shapes – namely octagonal, rectangular and square – and are manufactured out of cedar with an attractive cedar shingle tile roof. Cedar is a high quality timber (we source our cedar directly from Western Canada where it is grown) so it has numerous advantages over other traditionally used timbers – it doesn’t rot and requires very little, if none, on-going maintenance. Which again saves money in the medium to long term for a school.

Options for these buildings also include insulation, an atrium roof to allow in lots of natural daylight from above, timber sub-frame base, bi-fold doors to the front elevation, eco packages including renewable energy equipment and they are also modular – so within reason, they can easily be adapted for a school’s setting or individual requirements. In the majority of cases, they do not require planning permission as they fall under permitted development rights but a school always need to check first with their local planning authority before proceeding.

They are also typically installed within a week so minimal disruptance to a school’s working week or term. And although we say it ourselves, they do look quite nice!

For further details on our range of break-out or nurture outdoor classrooms, please contact us on 01865 858982 or email: info@hideouthouse.com

www.hideouthouse.com

outdoor classroom with French doors