Smoking Shelters

Outdoor smoking shelters in the range

The four designs divide on two questions: whether the shelter stays in one place or moves with the work, and whether its length is set when it is ordered or can grow later.

Aluminium smoking shelters

The aluminium smoking shelters are the choice for a permanent, public-facing smoking area at an office, retail park or public building. This design comes in the widest spread of lengths in the range, from a compact shelter for a few staff to a long run for a large site.

Modular smoking shelters with extension bays

The modular outdoor smoking shelter suits a site where the number of smokers is likely to change, or where the shelter has to fill a space of a particular length. It is a free-standing galvanised mild steel structure built for assembly on site, and extension bays lengthen an installed shelter without replacing it.

Free standing open-fronted smoking shelters

The free standing smoking shelter is a galvanised steel shelter with an open front and a clear PETG roof, fixed permanently in one position. The open front gives people a wide, direct way in from a path or yard, which suits a shelter that many people use for short breaks. Choose it for a set width in a permanent position where the shelter will not need to grow.

Portable smoking and waiting shelters

The portable smoking and waiting shelter is the design for a smoking area that has to move. It has a hot-dip galvanised steel box section frame with clear PVC glazing, and it is built to be taken up and set down again at a new position, so one shelter can serve a project from start to finish and then go on to the next.

Permanent or portable smoking shelter

The answer depends on how long the smoking area will stay in one place and on the ground it will stand on. A fixed workplace with concrete or tarmac hard standing suits the free standing shelter, which bolts down to the surface and stays in place for the life of the building. Where the surface is uneven, such as an old yard, a sloping path or block paving that has settled, the aluminium shelters stand on adjustable feet that level the frame without laying a new base first. The modular shelter is assembled where it will stand, so it also belongs in a permanent position.

A construction site or compound is different, because the smoking area moves as the work advances and the ground is often temporary. The portable smoking and waiting shelter stands on base plates, so it can be lifted and reset at the next phase of work or on the next site. Before ordering any design, confirm the type of surface, how level it is and the line of any buried services under the fixing points.

Smoking shelters for workplaces, sites and venues

Offices, factories and warehouses

A workplace shelter belongs where staff will use it: close enough to reach in a short break, but clear of entrances, opening windows and air intakes. In factories and warehouses it also sits away from forklift routes and loading bays, and it is sized to the number of people on a break at once, which on shift work peaks at handover. A cigarette bin from the litter and recycling bins range, placed at the opening, keeps ends off the ground around the building.

Construction sites and compounds

On a site, the shelter goes into the compound plan alongside the welfare cabins, clear of fuel stores, gas cylinder cages and plant movement. A position at the compound edge keeps smoking away from materials and the working area, and the shelter needs room for the whole gang at the morning and lunch breaks.

Pubs, hotels and hospitality venues

A beer garden or a corner of the car park is the usual position, set where smoke will not drift onto dining terraces or into neighbouring windows. Guests stay longer than staff on a break, so the shelter is sized to the busiest evening and often furnished with benches or perch seats from the outdoor seating range.

Smoking shelter sizes, frames and sheeting

Length and room to extend

Across the range, shelters run from 1m to 6m wide. Where numbers may rise, the modular shelter is the safer choice, because an extension bay adds length to the installed shelter and the original bays stay in use.

Frame material and powder coating

Aluminium is light and does not rust, which suits a shelter in a prominent spot that should look the same for years with little maintenance. Galvanised mild steel is heavier and stands up to knocks in yards and service areas, and hot-dip galvanised box section suits a shelter that is handled, lifted and moved between sites. Powder coating is carried out in-house, so a shelter can be finished in a building or corporate colour, or matched to the bicycle shelters and other street furniture on the same site.

Roof and side sheeting

Clear sheeting lets daylight through, so the shelter does not darken the area around it and the people inside stay visible from the building, to passing staff and to CCTV. The aluminium shelters use PET and the free standing shelter has a PETG roof, both rigid clear plastics made UV-stable for long outdoor use. The portable shelter is glazed in clear PVC for easy viewing through the sides.