It’s no surprise hospitals and healthcare providers struggle with space considering the pressures placed on them.
Not only are we living longer and suffering more chronic conditions associated with ageing but medical advances mean there is a constant need for extra room to accommodate new services and treatments.
However, instead of adding expensive extensions, many hospitals and other healthcare settings are opting to install canopies which are designed to optimise and enhance outdoor spaces for shelters or as enclosed spaces, adding a sleek and modern look to any building.
One of the great advantages of canopies is their modular design, customised to meet your needs and ideal for awkward and hard-to-reach areas.
We can also retrofit solar panels to canopies to help you produce renewable energy, slash your electricity bills and your carbon footprint.
Low cost weather protected storage
Canopies are far cheaper than brick-built extensions and can be installed quickly with minimal groundworks and disruption.
They are especially useful for providing additional storage space for equipment and supplies, keeping them secure and protected from the weather.
Watford General Hospital opted to install a large enclosed canopy
to provide additional storage space for their mortuary, as it was faster and more-cost effective than a traditional extension.
Weather protection and privacy for patients moving between buildings
Hospitals and healthcare settings which reconfigure their space for new treatments such as MRI scanners can find this has a knock-on effect on patient flow.
It may mean patients now have to move from one building to another without any protection from the weather.
Obviously, this isn’t ideal for patients or staff especially during the winter, heavy rainfall or a heatwave and when patients are ill and vulnerable to the elements.
A walkway canopy solves the problem of joining to buildings together and protecting patients and staff as well as giving them some privacy. For example, Kensington Systems installed an enclosed walkway canopy at Kings Mill Hospital to join their MRI scanner to the main building.
Ambulance or patient shelters
Canopies are used as ambulance shelters at hospitals during ambulance backups as patients wait for a bed to become free.
They provide staff and patients protection from the weather during the transfer from the ambulance to the hospital.
In the same way, canopies are perfect for shelters for patients who are being dropped off outside a healthcare facility for appointments as well as somewhere for patients to get fresh air while protected from the rain and hot sun.
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Protect Infrastructure
Our canopies are perfect for protecting expensive infrastructure such as outdoor lifts and parking machines from the weather.
Outdoor lifts are often needed for those with mobility issues where the entrance level is at a different level.
If the lift is constantly exposed to rain then this may shorten its lifespan. Moreover, adding a canopy over the lift helps keep patients and their loved ones dry from the rain.
In the same way, installing a canopy over parking machines protects patients and their carers from bad weather as they navigate parking payments.
Access to fresh air throughout the year
We all know how important it is for our mental and physical health to be able to have access to outside space and fresh air, whatever the weather.
This is even more true for patients in hospitals who need an outside protected area to boost their mental wellbeing and aid their physical recovery.
Canopies are a perfect solution to creating an outdoor safe space where patients can get away from the clinical environment and encouraged to move around and take gentle exercise whilst being protected from the elements.
For a mental health facility (like Omagh Hospital), we can customise with infill panels to the sides of a canopy to decrease ligature risk.
Modular high-performance designs with easy maintenance
Depending on your needs, we can add side walls, infill panels and doors and openings as well as lighting and heating to our Spaceshade canopies.
The canopies are made of powder coated aluminum making them very durable and corrosion free and easy to look after with a 25-year warranty.
Experienced in healthcare environments
We’ve been working with hospitals and health centres for over 30 years and our team of experts understand your unique needs and requirements.
If you’d like to find out how we can help, we’d love to hear from you.
