Playground Shade Sails for Schools

Add a colourful focal point to your playground while providing a shaded area with up to 98% UV protection with our high quality shade sails.

We offer a wide range of colours and designs, and project mange the entire process for you, including design, groundworks and installation.

Choice of Designs

Shade sails are available in different designs depending on your needs. Two of the most popular options are the hypar style square shade sail with four posts, or the umbrella shaped 'conic' sail with only one post.

However, there are many other designs available, and we can design a sail bespoke to your requirements if needed.

All Groundworks Included

Installing a shade sail is not just about the canopy itself - you also need to think about groundworks.

We provide groundworks as part of our service. We also project manage the installation proces from start to finish. This includes groundworks, installation, resurfacing and final cleanup.

Wide Range of Colours and Fabrics

Tensile fabrics come in a wide range of vibrant colours. The bright colours and dramatic shapes create a bright, fun, focal point in your school's playground as well as providing shade and high UV protection.

Shade sails fabrics can either be shade only or fully waterproof, depending on your school's needs.

Case Study

Providing an All-weather Outdoor Learning Space at Aldwickbury School

Aldwickbury School completed a major revamp of their Pre-prep boys playground, including laying artificial grass and installing a new Spaceshade canopy and shade sail to provide an all-weather outdoor learning area for pupils to learn and play.

Hypar Sails

A very popular tensile structure which can be triangular, square or rectangular in shape and has posts on each corner.

They are relatively cost-effective and are commonly used in schools and commercial applications.

Conic Sails

This type of shade sail is sometimes known as an umbrella sail because that's what it looks like.

Conic sails have a single supporting mast so are often used for covering large areas where the number of posts needs to be kept to a minimum.

Perimeter Sails

These shade sails are different from hypar and conic sails because the sail is supported by a steel framework underneath the fabric.

This puts less tension on the posts and means that smaller foundations are possible, hence they are often used when digging large foundations is not possible or desirable.

Case Study

A Trio of Colourful Shade Sails Brighten Up the Deaf Academy

Designed especially for deaf students, the Deaf Academy in Exmouth features state of the art facilities, including a large playground shaded with three colourful shade sails installed by Kensington Systems.

'Outstanding from start to finish'

'Kensington Systems were outstanding from start to finish! Laurie and the team kept us informed throughout the project and worked at speed to complete the job within our timeframes. We now have a space that is used all year round, which brings the outside in, on our wonderful site. The area has transformed teaching and learning opportunities and most importantly further strengthened friendships made through play and outdoor learning!'

Paul Symes

Aldwickbury School

'Great Price, Great Product'

'Great price, great product and a very personal service'

Steve Cooke

Downsview Primary School

'Highly professional'

'The installation was highly professional and we were consulted and kept informed throughout the process. The installers worked beyond their normal hours to make sure our canopy was completed in the time.'

Jeremy Harrison

Hillside First School

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What is a shade sail?

A shade sail is a piece for flexible ('tensile') fabric tensioned between at least three anchor points. It is designed to provide shade from the sun and is available in several different designs, including hypar, conic and perimeter beam shade sails.

Shade sails are very popular in schools and hospitality businesses as they provide comfortable shading and an architectural feature in outdoor areas.

Do you need planning permission for a shade sail?

It is always best to check with your local authority whether planning permission is required.

The shade sail may fall under Permitted Development guidelines if it is less than 5m from the school boundary and is less than 25% of the total footprint of the building or less than 100 sqm (whichever is less) and has a total height of less than 5m.

Kensington Systems can provide you with bespoke CGI visualisations to help you apply for planning.

What are your lead times for shade sails?

From order and deposit to groundworks and installation our lead times are generally between 8-10 weeks.

The lead time can be dependent on the size and design of the sail - bespoke shapes may take longer.

How much does a shade sail cost?

The price of a shade sail can be dependent on the chosen design, size, fabric type, post material etc. It is often assumed that shade sails are a lot cheaper than a canopy and sometimes they can be more cost-effective.

However, people often do not take into account that much larger foundations are required for shade sails than canopies, which adds to the overall cost.

Prices start at £10,000 ex VAT (including foundations); get in touch for a bespoke quote.

Can you make shade sails to cover unusual shapes?

Yes, hypar fabric sails can accommodate non-standard shapes easily.

A conic or perimeter beam sail is not recommended for non-standard shapes however, as they tend to be manufactured in standard square or rectangular sizes.

Why do shade sails need such large foundations?

Shade sails are highly tensioned structures, and rely on large foundations to keep their posts rigid and the sail correctly tensioned.

If the posts move once in place, the tensioning of the sail is affected, causing it to flap in high winds. A flapping sail not only looks bad, but is also a health and safety hazard - the movement of the sail damages the fixings anchoring the sail to the post, eventually causing them to break.

The exception to the rule is perimeter beam shade shade sails, where the sail is contained within a metal frame. In this case the frame keeps the sail tensioned correctly and large foundations are not required.

Do you have DBS accreditation?

Yes, our installation teams hold enhanced-DBS accreditation, enabling them to work onsite unsupervised if required.