School COLA | Covered Outdoor Learning Areas
At Greenline, we design our Covered Outdoor Learning Areas (COLAs) with careful consideration of your requirements, your needs, the space you’re covering and how you want to use it.
This means creating a shade structure that provides an enjoyable and productive learning environment for students and teachers alike.
In a school, the best environment to encourage new growth in our country’s students is one that they enjoy spending time in.
While classrooms are the pinnacle of an educational environment, a change in scenery can invigorate young minds and make the school day all that more pleasant.
Bring the classroom outdoors with the coverage provided by school COLAs.
Wondering how much a fabric structure or custom shelter may cost? Try our Project Estimator Tool.
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COLA: Covered Outdoor Learning Area
Think of your shade structure as a canopy. In a forest, the canopy maintains optimum conditions for encouraging new growth. We now know that our learning environments are critical to achieving good learning outcomes, so give students an environment they can thrive in with a school COLA.
Greenline’s school COLAs are large-span steel structures that transform your outdoor space and give you all-weather use of your sports courts, eating areas, and more. With zero obstructions by weather conditions to learning, play, or lunchtime, students can always make the most of outdoor learning areas.
What is a COLA?
Steel COLAs are permanent shelters most often used in school environments. They may function as playground covers or as a sun-safe environment to take classroom learning outdoors.
School COLAs also tend to be custom-designed with acoustic lining to carry sound in assemblies. They may also be bird-proof to prevent disruptions to students and the collection of droppings that can cause cleanliness issues.
Regardless of their intended function, school COLAs always provide weather protection from the harsh Australian climate and its temperature extremes.
It should also be noted that the term ‘covered outdoor learning area’ is pretty generic and could be used to describe any outdoor space protected by a shelter.
However, thanks to a large government investment in 2007, the term COLA has become synonymous with large steel structures in schools!
That is why Greenline focuses on the provision of sizeable, steel shade structures that meet Australian education requirements.
Common Applications
COLAs are most often constructed over multipurpose sports courts, or in quadrangles/courtyards at schools as they are one of the most durable all-weather shelters available. They thus reduce any safety risk associated with harsh weather conditions or the elements.
As a large-span steel structure, they also work very well for outdoor eating areas and other large spaces. Steel structures can also be designed for areas like covered walkways and bus stops.
See our COLA projects
With over 20 years of shade solution experience, Greenline has provided multiple schools with a COLA customised to their learning environments and students’ needs. All of our shade structures are made to withstand harsh weather conditions while also being aesthetically pleasing. So there is no need to compromise on design when needing to protect a play area or learning environment.
Read on to discover how Greenline has raised the value and learning environments of multiple schools across Australia.
Blackburn High School 3D Video
- Construction started in August 2018 and was completed early 2019.
- Covering 2 full size netball courts and 4 volleyball courts and includes concrete tiered seating and integrated sports equipment.
- The structure measures at 38m x 61m.
Click here to view our video (click and drag to look around in 3D)
COLA sizes and styles
Find a shade solution for your school’s outdoor learning areas no matter the scale of the project with Greenline. Our school COLA structures come in various shapes, styles, sizes, and materials to suit the needs and image of any school environment.
Sizes
COLAs typically span anywhere from 10m wide to 50m wide, however, due to the way they are constructed they are almost limitless in size.
Along with the area they can cover, the ability to construct them with a curved or gable roof makes them a great option where sports-grade clearance heights are required.
Traditionally these structures are designed as a rectangle as this is the most efficient layout however, as all Greenline structures are designed in-house, they can be customised to best fit your space.
Styles
- Gable – this is the classic COLA shape
- Curved – this shape is sometimes referred to as a barrel vault and is a modern take on the more traditional gable style.
- Skillion – a flat or angled roof steel structure
Choosing materials for your structure
Aesthetically, one of the main aspects of your COLA will be the roof cladding (external layer).
This is typically constructed from Colorbond which comes in a range of colours.
If you choose to add skirts (see more on this under ‘endless possibilities’ on this page) to your structure, these are usually constructed from the same Colorbond cladding as the roof.
The gutters and downpipes can either be matched to the roof colour, or you can choose a contrasting colour to create a two-tone feature.
The other main aspect of your COLA is the steel work. There are two main finishes for columns:
- Galvanised – a highly durable raw silver/grey finish
- Colorbond – also very durable and comes in a range of colours.
Skylights and Infills
Depending on the range of skylights you choose from, these can come in clear, white, or blue. The same material can also be used to create end infills.
Choosing to add Skylights and Infills can give you even greater flexibility in how you use the space – for more details see the ‘Endless Possibilities’ section further down on this page.
Benefits of a COLA Structure
COLAs allow for year-round assembly, outdoor play and innovative student learning opportunities with all-weather access to all school spaces.
Protects your staff and students from the harsh UV rays
A well-designed, covered outdoor learning area will not only protect staff and students from the sun’s rays or keep the rain off, this shade option offers the opportunity to take your classroom outside.
Research shows that outdoor learning encourages increased interaction and engagement by both students and teachers.
Improve the longevity of your artificial turf
Artificial turf can be up to 20 degrees hotter than the outside temperature. Over time this can lead to the surface breaking down from UV overexposure. Covering this turf not only makes it last longer, but also makes the space much safer for staff and students using the area at the height of summer.
Flexibility in scheduling lessons and sporting events in the area
Remove the stress and frustration of having to reschedule sport lessons and activities at the last minute due to rain or other inclement weather. By covering your sports courts and activity areas you gain all year-round access to your facilities, whatever the weather!
Community Use
Covering your existing facilities can make it an attractive area for community use, outside of school hours.
Bird Proofing
Bird proofing is a simple and effective way to reduce the amount of maintenance and cleaning needed for your structure, as well as making it a healthier and safer environment for students and teachers alike. It is also required to meet some state government compliance regulations.
As we all know, prevention is much better than cure! Unlike bird spikes or bird netting, your COLA can be designed so that it does not contain any roosting locations at all, completely eliminating the issue as well as any ongoing maintenance needs that go along with netting or spikes.
Features of a commercial COLA structure
Adding some (or all!) of the following features to a traditional COLA can transform your space into a functional and practical multipurpose facility.
Skylights and End infills
Opting for Skylights and End Infills is an easy way to get even more use from your space. The added access to natural light will mean you can use this space on even the most cloudy, overcast days. Natural light gives students the feel of being outdoors without exposing them to unhealthy amounts of UVR.
Artificial Lighting
Adding artificial lighting to your structure gives you the option and ability to host evening games and events in the great outdoors. This is especially important if you plan on having out of hours community usage.
PA System
Be heard above the noise! Incorporating a PA System into your structure is an excellent way to make it more functional for both games, assemblies, and events.
Post Pads
Improve the safety of your space with post pads on the columns to minimise the risk of students colliding with metal surfaces. Don’t fill out more paperwork than you have to!
Sound proofing/absorbing
Steel can produce a lot of echoes and sound reverberance when in use. To minimise this, sound proofing can be installed in the .
Synthetic grass court surfacing is also effective for further absorbing noise
Side Skirts
Side Skirts refers to adding sides that come vertically down (typically about a metre) along the edges of the structure. They minimise the amount of driving rain that can enter the space and maximise the duration of shade coverage throughout the day.
Sporting Equipment/Accessories
Sporting equipment like basketball and netball hoops can be integrated into your structure to eliminate unnecessary posts, making the space safer and more versatile. For multi-purpose spaces, hoops can be retractable to allow full use of the space when the hoops are not in use.
Materials
Materials will be primarily waterproof, membrane or steel. The term COLA has become synonymous with metal/steel roof structures, however for the creation of your Covered Outdoor Learning Area, structure type and covering options are entirely in your hands. You will want to consider your COLA’s primary purpose, and how you would like to vary your learning environment.
How much do COLA’s cost?
Wondering what it would cost to have a Covered Outdoor Learning Area built at your school or organisation? Try out our cost estimator tool – you’ll just need to know a few details like rough dimensions of the space and how accessible the area is. If you don’t know the size of your area, give us a call and we will map it out for you on Nearmap (an accurate and up to date aerial mapping service).
What are the common styles of a School COLA?
