What EN 13782 means for a padel court cover
EN 13782 is the European standard governing temporary structures such as tensile covers. We explain what it requires and why it matters for a padel court.
When a club installs a tensile cover over its padel courts, the most important technical question is not the colour of the membrane or the clearance height: it is which standard the structure was calculated to. In Europe, that standard is EN 13782.
What EN 13782 covers
EN 13782 is the European standard for temporary structures (marquees, tensile covers and textile structures) with a covered area greater than 50 m². It sets the safety requirements for the design, calculation, manufacture, assembly and maintenance of these constructions.
In practice it requires three things:
- Documented structural calculation against the expected loads (wind, snow, self-weight).
- A design report signed by a competent engineer.
- An assembly, use and maintenance plan that stays with the structure for its entire service life.
Why wind is the critical factor
A padel cover is a large, lightweight surface. That makes it especially sensitive to wind action, which is calculated according to EN 1991-1-4 (Eurocode 1, wind actions).
The calculation does not use a generic value: it starts from the basic wind speed of the location where the cover is installed, corrected for height, terrain roughness and the shape of the structure. The same cover may require different reinforcement on the Atlantic coast than in an inland valley.
At IDRECO we calculate every cover to withstand winds of up to 130 km/h, verifying the result with CFD simulation when the geometry or the site justifies it.
What a club should ask for before signing
If you are evaluating a cover for your facility, always request:
- The EN 13782 calculation report specific to your project, not a generic manufacturer certificate.
- The design wind speed used and the climatic zone considered.
- The maintenance plan and the expected structural service life of the membrane.
A cover properly calculated to EN 13782 is not an expense: it is the guarantee that the structure will still be standing after the first serious storm. That is exactly the difference between a tarpaulin and a piece of engineering.
Have a cover project in mind? Request a technical analysis and we will deliver a preliminary sizing based on the wind zone of your site.