Evelina Children’s Hospital School, Westminster

James Robertshaw provided the design, production and installation of a series of shade sails for the Evelina Children’s Hospital School, which is part of the Guy’s & St Thomas NHS Trust, Westminster.

The school is located on the third floor of the building, consisting of a glass atrium housing the children’s hospital, unfortunately during hot summer months the heat and glare from the glazed atrium becomes very uncomfortable for the children and teachers.

Guys & St Thomas NHS Trust approached James Robertshaw, having seen the firm’s installation of the shade sails they had designed and installed at the Nottingham College of Leadership, in a bid to help find a solution, without comprising the ambience and beauty of the atrium space. James Robertshaw was successful in its bid and set about designing a bespoke solution for the school.

James Robertshaw’s solution was to design sail shades made of flame retardant, tensile, specialist screen fabric treated with a permanent anti-bacterial coating, which makes the sails easier to clean and reduce risks of infection.

The sail shades cover a 225 square metre area and range from a base height of four metres to a maximum height of eight metres. The sails are tensioned one metre from the glass to allow easy window cleaning access. James Robertshaw installed the sails over a weekend, so as to not impact on the school and used specialist installation equipment.