Freestanding weather canopies and bespoke umbrellas from Dublin-based Outdoor Spaces are helping hospitality businesses transform their exterior areas into usable spaces

It’s one thing to say we should socialise ‘outdoors’ this summer but another to actually experience it. Ireland’s wildly irrational weather means that enjoying a meal or a pint outdoors is a risky proposition and so hotels and restaurants are being forced to mitigate against that risk if they’re to trade successfully over the summer months. Outdoor facilities are costly but there is funding available under the new Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme, allowing hospitality businesses to claim grants from a total allocated budget of €17 million. “Creating usable outdoor areas is definitely a significant expense but we’re seeing huge demand from the industry who view our solutions as a way of getting back to normal activities in the safest possible way,” said Denis O’Reilly, Director at Outdoor Spaces. The company, which was set up in September last year by Denis, Maurice Byrne and Adam Rankin, manufactures and installs 7m x 5m freestanding weather canopies and is the authorised partner for the island of Ireland for Austrian-made Meissl bespoke umbrella solutions that are suitable for any location and most of which can be installed in less than a day. “No groundwork is required with the canopies. We’re currently installing two 7m x 5m canopies at Killashee Hotel in Naas which will provide their guests with immediate cover. If they decide they want to move it to another area we’ll come in, disassemble it and relocate it elsewhere. It couldn’t be simpler.”

It’s one thing to say we should socialise ‘outdoors’ this summer but another to actually experience it. Ireland’s wildly irrational weather means that enjoying a meal or a pint outdoors is a risky proposition and so hotels and restaurants are being forced to mitigate against that risk if they’re to trade successfully over the summer months. Outdoor facilities are costly but there is funding available under the new Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme, allowing hospitality businesses to claim grants from a total allocated budget of €17 million. “Creating usable outdoor areas is definitely a significant expense but we’re seeing huge demand from the industry who view our solutions as a way of getting back to normal activities in the safest possible way,” said Denis O’Reilly, Director at Outdoor Spaces. The company, which was set up in September last year by Denis, Maurice Byrne and Adam Rankin, manufactures and installs 7m x 5m freestanding weather canopies and is the authorised partner for the island of Ireland for Austrian-made Meissl bespoke umbrella solutions that are suitable for any location and most of which can be installed in less than a day. “No groundwork is required with the canopies. We’re currently installing two 7m x 5m canopies at Killashee Hotel in Naas which will provide their guests with immediate cover. If they decide they want to move it to another area we’ll come in, disassemble it and relocate it elsewhere. It couldn’t be simpler.”