Design the ultimate school shelter shed with shed designer.

What is a school cover or shelter shed?

A school cover, often called a COLA (Covered Outdoor Learning Area), is an open-sided steel structure built over a playground, eating area or assembly slab to give children shaded, weather-protected space outside the classroom. A shelter shed is the same idea on a smaller footprint, usually with one or two walls clad to break wind and add bag storage. Both are non-habitable Class 10a structures under the National Construction Code, framed in steel, clad in Colorbond® on the roof, and engineered to AS/NZS 1170.2 wind loading.

ShedDesigner's school cover and shelter shed templates are built from 100% Australian-made BlueScope steel, with a roof spec built around the Cancer Council Australia recommendation that shade structures over playgrounds should achieve UPF 50+ to block at least 97.5% of UV (Cancer Council, SunSmart shade guidelines). Pick the closest template, set your span, eave height, bay count and any walled sides, then submit your design once for free comparable quotes from ShedSafe accredited dealers in your region.

Cover and shelter options

Three common builds, three different problems they solve.

COLA over a playground or court. A clear-span open structure 12 to 24 metres wide and as long as the slab demands. No walls, four to eight portal frames on engineered piers. Used as overflow lunch space, assembly cover, weather-rated PE area, or shaded play.

Lunch shelter on the quad. A smaller open cover, 6 to 12 metres wide, with bench seating bolted to the slab. Often picks up two or three sides of soft-fall paving and a single clad wall for wind break.

Shelter shed with bag storage. Two or three walls clad, bag-rack installed along one wall, bench seating on another. Used at infants entry points, bus pickup, or rural school assembly points.

If you also need a sport-court cover or a COLA sized for a netball court, see also our sport covers and sheds page. Browse the broader range on the covers and shelters page or the commercial designs category.

Sizing the structure

Three numbers decide whether the cover does the job for the next 30 years.

Clear span. Most school COLAs in Australia run 12 to 18 metres of clear span, which fits a netball half-court, a kindergarten play space, or a 12 by 24 metre lunch slab without internal columns getting in the kids' way. Spans up to 30 metres are routine with engineered portal frames. Above 30 metres, the cost-per-square-metre starts climbing.

Eave height. A 3.0 to 3.6 metre eave gives standing room without making the structure feel cavernous to small children. A 4.5 to 6.0 metre eave suits a sport-court cover where balls go up. Lower eaves trap heat in summer and dim the space, higher eaves let weather sweep in further from the edges.

Roof pitch and overhang. A 5° to 10° roof pitch with a 600 to 900 mm overhang sheds rain clear of the slab edge and shades the sides of the structure when the sun is low. A skillion (single-pitch) profile is common because it gives the highest ridge on the assembly side and the lowest at the back.

Compliance and wind

Open-sided school structures live and die on the engineering signoff.

Wind loading. AS/NZS 1170.2:2021 splits Australia into wind Regions A through D, with Region B further split into B1 and B2. Open-sided covers take significant wind uplift on the roof, so portal frames, footings and purlin spacing scale heavier than an equivalent walled structure in the same region. Coastal NSW and Qld blocks need engineering done to the actual wind region for the school site.

NCC class. A school cover or shelter shed is a Class 10a non-habitable outbuilding under the National Construction Code, even when attached to a Class 9b school building (Australian Building Codes Board). That keeps the cover out of the more onerous Class 9b fire and egress provisions while still requiring full structural certification.

Procurement. Most state education departments procure school structures under whole-of-government contracts and require a designer or supplier to be ShedSafe accredited or carry equivalent third-party engineering signoff. Confirm with your facilities team before going to market.

Before you get quotes

A school cover sits over the children for 30 years of recess, assembly and PE. Build it right once.

100% Australian-made BlueScope Steel. Across structural framing and Colorbond® roof cladding. BlueScope's COLORBOND® steel cladding for sheds and garages carries a warranty of up to 15 years against corrosion to perforation, with the exact period set by location and application (BlueScope, Garages & Sheds Warranty). Check your build on BlueScope's online warranty estimator. Lighter Colorbond® colours such as Surfmist or Shale Grey carry higher Solar Reflectance Index values, which reduces the temperature under the roof on hot days.

SunSmart shade target. Cancer Council recommends shade structures over playgrounds achieve UPF 50+ to block at least 97.5% of UV (Cancer Council, SunSmart shade guidelines). A solid steel roof in Colorbond® meets that target by design, where shade sail and tensioned-fabric covers depend on the fabric specification.

ShedSafe accredited dealers, no exceptions. Every dealer on ShedDesigner is third-party assessed under the Australian Steel Institute programme, which checks dealer design and engineering against the National Construction Code and AS/NZS 1170.2 wind loading.

One design, multiple quotes. Your school cover design goes out to dealers in your region. Every quote prices the same structure, in the same steel, to the same engineering, so the quotes in the procurement file are directly comparable.