Guide to buying a commercial canopy

If you are looking for ways to attract more customers, or make your business stand out then you may be considering installing a commercial canopy. Our guide to buying a commercial canopy covers some handy tips and outlines everything you should take into consideration prior to your purchase.

Choosing the correct canopy for your business leaves you with many things to consider such as the design, size, materials, colour and branding elements. We would advise you to start by considering the benefits that a canopy will bring to your business and the main reason for installing it to ensure your requirements are met.

Consider the benefits of a canopy

Firstly, a commercial canopy can protect your employees and customers from the unpredictable British weather but also can help to increase revenues without the costly impact of building extensions or obtaining planning permission.

But utilising canopies can offer many other benefits to any commercial establishment including:

• providing shelter from the elements
• increasing usable space
• increasing revenue
• providing branding opportunities
• improving energy saving possibilities
• adding to security and safety
• connecting buildings
• protecting interiors from fading
• enhancing the architectural beauty of a building

Focus on the main benefit to your business and ensure that the canopy you choose meets your requirements. For example, outdoor shading of an extended seating area will help to protect from the elements. However, at different times of the day or year the sun will be positioned differently affecting where your shade falls.

A specialist commercial canopy provider, such as Marla, will be able to help consider each of these factors with you and ensure you have optimum shading during the most popular eating times. They will also help you to consider if you need additional extras such as lighting, wind proofing with side walls, or motorised options.

Types of commercial canopy

In a professional environment canopies can be utilised for a wide range of purposes such as:

• Shop front canopies for impact, shelter and minimising indoor temperature
• Entrance canopies for retail, hospitality or leisure
• Extending restaurant/cafe seating capacity to outdoors
• Protection from the elements for school play or outdoor communal areas
• Distinctive walkways and access/loading bay canopies for pick up and drop off points
• Vehicle protection of company and employee cars with carports and canopies
• Smoking shelters

Consider the structure and canopy material

Depending on the structure of the canopy you choose, you will probably need to consider the size of the space to be covered, any height restrictions, colour and branding requirements, the position of posts and the materials to be used.

When positioning posts it important to think about any restrictions on safe movement and flow of people traffic in the surrounding area. Unnecessarily limiting the space people can comfortably enjoy the canopy or walkway in will perhaps either hinder the opening of it or deem certain areas unusable.

It is also important to consider the possibilities of dealing with the weight of rain or snow and ensuring adequate drainage avenues are provided. By utilising a specialist commercial canopy provider, you can be assured that they will already have made such considerations in the design.

Final considerations such as outdoor heating, lighting and automation requirements will need to be thought about in terms of their best positioning. Our experienced fitters can recommend the ultimate positioning for your commercial setting.

Marla’s commercial canopies are built to last and come with a 10-year guarantee. For more information or to book a survey, contact one of our specialists now.