Retractable Seating: How Long Does It Take to Close?
A decision about whether to invest in retractable seating is usually about five factors: time, space, human/community benefit, sustainability benefit, and money.
We’ll explore some of the other factors in future articles, but for now, let’s think about time. If you choose one of our retractable seating systems, how long is it going to take you to close it completely away?
We’ve got some wonderful videos showing people closing our retractable seating, and it does take less than a minute to retract an 8-10 tier set of platforms. But there are a few other factors to take into consideration, and this is where the options you choose are key. The video below gives you a quick overview, and we’ve included some more detailed information beneath it. Bear in mind that our guide is purely about timings, and you should always follow the full safety procedure which we will outline in your Operation and Maintenance Manual.
The below is based on one person operating the system, except where stated.
- Checks – 2 minutes
Take a few minutes to check beneath the platforms for obstructions. Perhaps a colleague stashed something under there – we see it a lot, from furniture to bikes. As you can imagine, trying to close the platforms with anything underneath is not a good idea!
If you have chairs which fold down automatically, also walk up the aisle and look along each tier in front of the chairs for anything left there. If a chair can’t fold down fully due to an obstruction, it can catch on the row above as the platforms close.
2. Preparations – Time varies, depending on the options you choose
The dream set-up in terms of time is to have seats that fold down automatically, power operation, and self-storing side rails which nest as you close the seating (or, of course, a seating unit which spans wall-to-wall and doesn’t require side rails).
If you have selected chairs that fold down manually, the time added of course depends on the number of chairs you have! Luckily, most of our chairs fold down in groups of 3–5, vastly reducing the time and effort needed. So 100-200 chairs should take around 5 or 10 minutes once you get into a good routine.
If you have any other peripherals that need to be removed or folded, this of course will add time. Fold-down rails are very quick and will take around 3 minutes. Rails that have to be completely removed and stored can take around 5 minutes for each side of the platforms. The time of course also depends on where you are storing the rails, and we do supply storage trolleys to speed this up.
If you have decorative fascias on the front of your unit, you may also need to walk down the aisle, sliding the aisle sections of the fascias into place before closing the platforms.
Above: Folding rails, removable rails and manual chair fold-down.
3. Fold up the front step and plug in controller – 2 minutes
Fold up the “half-step” at the front of the aisle (or detach it if your unit is designed that way). Then, if you have a power operation, plug in the push-button controller, and if you are closing the units manually, clip in the pull handles. Please note that two people are needed to close the platforms manually.
4. Close Up!
This is the satisfying bit! Have a final look around the unit (mostly to check that everybody is safely clear) and then push the button (or walk forward with the handles if you are closing the unit manually.)
And that’s it! Your room is transformed!
Of course, these are very general guidelines, and we’re always happy to talk you through timings for your individual room, seat quantity and specification. Give us a call on +44 (0)1373 865050 to talk it through!