Lightning Strike Shelter

Playground base, stage and meeting space for a Wandsworth primary school.

The lightning strike shelter provides a covered playground space for a multitude of uses for pupils, parents and staff whilst also offering a home to nature and reducing storm water flooding.

These works form part of a larger package for the school which are aimed at Adapting it for Future Climate Resilience. This began with a report commissioned which identified many areas of concern and an action plan with some funding attached.

Combined with the two Angled Shelters-rooftop outdoor classrooms, 120m2 of sedum roofs have been installed. These will absorb and slowly release the rainwater down to the SuDS planters below, which in turn will temporarily store and slowly release the rainwater to the sewers, significantly reducing the peak flow storm water runoff. As well as this important function, greenroofs, offer many positives including: enhanced biodiversity, reducing urban heat island effect and improving the local micro-climate.

The shelters, benches and planters are entirely constructed from UK sourced freshly sawn Douglas Fir timber with a galvanised steel base to provide the structural support and keep the timber away from the damp zone at ground level.

Thanks as always to: Tyree Fabrications, Martin Evans Engineers, Joe Tennor, Chris Pocock, the Handspring Team for some very long shifts and Les Hewett and the School for being patient and very accommodating of us during the construction.