Planning Considerations / Tips

Please do speak with our professional team of furniture designers as they often consider factors that are easily overlooked (0191 389 1888).

Spatial Awareness

We are familiar with our furniture and have a realistic appreciation of the amount of space that the items take up. Please pay particular attention to the actual dimensions of the furniture. It can help to cut out paper to the dimension of the item and place it in position prior to ordering. You need to ensure that not only will the item fit in the space provided but that there is enough space for the drawers, doors, etc to fully open!

Planning Tray Storage

If you require each child in your classroom to have their own coloured tray and you have, for instance, 36 children in your class then please do not merely purchase a three-column tray storage unit that is twelve-high. Yes, you will get one unit that will house all 36 trays but can you image the chaos caused by the bottleneck at the end of each lesson as they all try to put their books away! By purchasing three single-column twelve-high tray storage units and spreading them around the class you will do a lot to ease congestion!

Flexible Tray Storage

Better still, choose a height of storage unit that matches the existing work surfaces present in the room and spread your trays around the room to avoid unnecessary congestion. Purchasing mobile units can give you greater flexibility when adapting or altering the use to which your unit is being put in the future.

Mixed Tray Storage

If you choose to split your tray storage up throughout the room and at the same time integrate it with resource storage in, for example, a shelved cupboard, then not only will access at peak times be more even but so will access to those additional resources.

Tray Depths

It may be preferable to purchase double or triple-depth trays to house larger resource items in the base parts of your tray storage units. This is an excellent method of spreading resources around the room whilst eliminating the potential footfall bottlenecks.

Tray Colours

Consider purchasing alternate colours of trays to aid in the identification of either groups of children or types of resource-materials. Remember that trays are extremely mobile. It is far easier when setting up for the lesson to carry the full resource tray containing the shared resource to the source of child-focussed activity rather than have each child go to the place where that resource is stored. It makes tidying-up after the activity an integrated, easy child-led task too!

Consider Doors

Do consider whether the resource needs to be visible. Each stored resource has different access requirements and may be more suited to being hidden behind a single or double door than being on full show.

Versatile Furniture

Our tray storage units are extremely versatile in that we use the same wooden cleats to act as support for either a tray or a single shelf. This means that if you purchase single shelves you can interchange then with any tray location and therefore spread your resources accordingly.

Field of Vision

When visualising your room you have to consider furniture heights. When planning a book or library area, for instance, it might be wise to consult with one of our professionals (0191 389 1888).

Shaping Your Rooms

Using library shelves, bookcases or cupboards to demarcate room and study space is an excellent method of breaking up a large room for smaller study areas and can act as a barrier to draughts!

Secluded Areas

Creating secluded areas offers comfort for improved concentration and can lead to increased child confidence and creativity. It is equally important, however, to also consider the visual access, as it can be advantageous to see what is going on throughout your diverse study area!

Pin-board Displays

If you know that your Ambic furniture item is to be utilised as a room demarcator why not consider the addition of a pin-board to the rear of the item to facilitate its use as a display source.

Ambic Reassurance

If you have any concerns over your proposed room layout please do discuss these with a member of our furniture design team (0191 389 1888). There are rules and regulations regarding the obstruction of entry and exit routes that are there for the safety of you and your children in the event of room evacuation.

Library Shape

When planning your library consider the addition of internal and/or external library units. These facilitate the creation of your library ‘shape' and turn a collection of library bookcases into an ordered working library.

Table Surface Heights

When choosing tables you need to careful consider the table heights that are suited to the age of your children and the chairs that they are to use to sit on at them (view table height chart).

Table Styles

When choosing your tables there are many questions that should be asked to ascertain that you are purchasing the right type of table. Will the table be in constant use or would it be beneficial to get a stacking or tilting variety? Would the purchase of tables that are modular by design bring advantages to their use within your environment and over time? Would your table purchase benefit from the inclusion of tray runners with trays for increased sub-surface storage?

If you are in any doubt we urge you to call us (0191 389 1888) for quality, impartial advice.

If in doubt...ask!