A pergola with a solid roof is a different purchase from one with a canopy. You are not buying a product off a shelf, you are specifying a structure for a span, a drop and a finish, and the price follows the specification. Here is how the roofs differ, how large each one goes, and what the manufacturer's numbers actually mean once the rain arrives.
Three mechanisms, three different jobs
Every roof in the Pergolas and Shade range does one of three things. Blades that rotate in place give you control of light and air but always leave a roof overhead. Blades that rotate and then retract add a fourth position: gone, with open sky above you. A fixed roof does not move at all, and buys you a finished ceiling and a permanent room instead.
Most people arrive wanting the retractable one and leave with a rotating one, because the tilt covers nearly every situation and the mechanism is simpler. It is worth being honest with yourself about how often you actually want the sky.
Rotating blades: Camargue, Algarve and Aero
The Renson Camargue is the flagship. Motorised aluminium blades rotate up to 150 degrees, drainage is concealed inside the structure, and a single roof reaches 6.2 m by 4.5 m, roughly 20 ft 4 in by 14 ft 9 in, with a passage height up to 2.8 m or 9 ft 2 in.
The Algarve works the same way with a slimmer frame and a 6 m by 4.5 m maximum roof. The Aero is the same idea built to sit inside your architecture rather than stand beside it, and it is the widest of the three: 7 m by 4.5 m as a single roof, and up to 13.25 m by 4.5 m, about 43 ft 6 in, in the joined Aero Infinity configuration.
Roofs that open completely: Camargue Skye and Aero Skye
Renson's S-Drive system slides the blades away entirely. The Camargue Skye rotates to 145 degrees and then retracts; the Aero Skye rotates to 135 degrees and retracts, built into a supporting structure. Both reach 6.2 m by 4.5 m as a single roof.
The trade is span and simplicity. You give up the Aero's extra width and you add a moving assembly, in exchange for a terrace that becomes genuinely open in summer.
Fixed roofs, and the one exception
The Algarve Canvas and Aero Canvas use two layers: a powder coated steel plate above for the weather, and a taut screen fabric below so the ceiling reads as a finished surface rather than a deck. Neither rotates or retracts. Both reach 4.5 m by 6 m, and the Algarve Canvas can be joined to cover up to 6 m by 6 m without an extra column where the engineering allows.
The Lapure is the odd one out and the one to read carefully. It is wall mounted with a fully retractable fabric roof, pitched between 8 and 25 degrees, reaching 6 m wide by 5 m of projection. The standard roof fabric is waterproof polyester. Lapure Shade is a separate flat, zero degree configuration and its fabric is not waterproof. If you are buying shelter rather than shade, say so early, because those two versions look similar in photographs and behave nothing alike in rain.
Freestanding, attached or integrated
Camargue, Algarve and their Canvas siblings can stand on their own columns or attach to a suitable wall. Aero, Aero Skye and Aero Canvas are designed to be integrated into a new or existing structure, which is the route to take when you want the roof to read as part of the house rather than an addition to it. Lapure is wall mounted by design.
Attachment is never a detail to assume. Fixing into masonry, timber framing or an insulated facade each carry their own requirements, and the structure below a pergola matters as much as the roof above it.
The weather numbers, in plain English
Three manufacturer figures appear on every one of these pages, and they are more useful once translated.
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Wind resistance, quoted with the roof closed. Most of the range is rated to 120 km/h, about 75 mph. The Camargue is rated to 160 km/h, about 100 mph. Lapure, being fabric, is 100 km/h or about 62 mph.
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Drainage, quoted in litres per square metre per hour. One litre per square metre is one millimetre of rain, so 120 L/m2/h is roughly 4.7 inches of rain an hour and 150 L/m2/h is about 5.9 inches. Lapure's pitched roof handles 56 L/m2/h, around 2.2 inches. For context, an intense American thunderstorm rarely exceeds 3 inches an hour.
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Roof load, quoted in kilograms per square metre. 100 kg/m2 is about 20 lb per square foot; the Camargue's 200 kg/m2 is about 41 lb. If you live where snow sits, that difference is the specification conversation to have.
Every one of these figures is a manufacturer maximum for an approved configuration. Your span, your fixings and your local conditions decide what your structure is actually signed off to do.
The options are decided at quote stage, not after
Screens, sliding glass or Loggia panels, outdoor curtains, up and down LED lighting, in blade lighting, heating, Beam Heat and Sound, rain sensors and smart controls are all specified while the structure is being quoted. Frames come in RAL colours, and several models offer Wooddesign blade or Classic Line detailing.
This matters practically: retrofitting a screen track or a lighting run into a finished aluminium structure is not the same job as building it in. Decide what the space is for before the quote, not after the install.
What made to measure changes about buying
None of these carry a shelf price, because none of them have a standard size. What you send us decides everything: approximate width and depth, mounting details, whether you want freestanding or attached, your project ZIP code, and the finish and comfort options you have in mind. We review the configuration with Renson before confirming specification, availability, installation scope and lead time.
Photographs of the space help more than people expect, particularly of the wall or facade a roof would attach to.
Which one fits your project
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You want one structure that handles everything, including snow: Camargue.
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You want the sky back in July: Camargue Skye, or Aero Skye if it is integrated.
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You are covering the widest possible terrace: Aero, or Aero Infinity for a joined run.
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You want a finished ceiling and a permanent outdoor room: Algarve Canvas or Aero Canvas.
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You are working off a single wall with no room for columns: Lapure, in the waterproof pitched version.
Not sure which of those describes you? That is the normal starting point, and the quote conversation is built for it. Send the space and we will work backwards from there.
Louvered Roof Pergolas: What Rotating, Retractable and Fixed Actually Mean
A pergola with a solid roof is a different purchase from one with a canopy. You are not buying a product off a shelf, you are specifying a structure for a span, a drop and a finish, and the price follows the specification. Here is how the roofs differ, how large each one goes, and what the manufacturer's numbers actually mean once the rain arrives.
Three mechanisms, three different jobs
Every roof in the Pergolas and Shade range does one of three things. Blades that rotate in place give you control of light and air but always leave a roof overhead. Blades that rotate and then retract add a fourth position: gone, with open sky above you. A fixed roof does not move at all, and buys you a finished ceiling and a permanent room instead.
Most people arrive wanting the retractable one and leave with a rotating one, because the tilt covers nearly every situation and the mechanism is simpler. It is worth being honest with yourself about how often you actually want the sky.
Rotating blades: Camargue, Algarve and Aero
The Renson Camargue is the flagship. Motorised aluminium blades rotate up to 150 degrees, drainage is concealed inside the structure, and a single roof reaches 6.2 m by 4.5 m, roughly 20 ft 4 in by 14 ft 9 in, with a passage height up to 2.8 m or 9 ft 2 in.
The Algarve works the same way with a slimmer frame and a 6 m by 4.5 m maximum roof. The Aero is the same idea built to sit inside your architecture rather than stand beside it, and it is the widest of the three: 7 m by 4.5 m as a single roof, and up to 13.25 m by 4.5 m, about 43 ft 6 in, in the joined Aero Infinity configuration.
Roofs that open completely: Camargue Skye and Aero Skye
Renson's S-Drive system slides the blades away entirely. The Camargue Skye rotates to 145 degrees and then retracts; the Aero Skye rotates to 135 degrees and retracts, built into a supporting structure. Both reach 6.2 m by 4.5 m as a single roof.
The trade is span and simplicity. You give up the Aero's extra width and you add a moving assembly, in exchange for a terrace that becomes genuinely open in summer.
Fixed roofs, and the one exception
The Algarve Canvas and Aero Canvas use two layers: a powder coated steel plate above for the weather, and a taut screen fabric below so the ceiling reads as a finished surface rather than a deck. Neither rotates or retracts. Both reach 4.5 m by 6 m, and the Algarve Canvas can be joined to cover up to 6 m by 6 m without an extra column where the engineering allows.
The Lapure is the odd one out and the one to read carefully. It is wall mounted with a fully retractable fabric roof, pitched between 8 and 25 degrees, reaching 6 m wide by 5 m of projection. The standard roof fabric is waterproof polyester. Lapure Shade is a separate flat, zero degree configuration and its fabric is not waterproof. If you are buying shelter rather than shade, say so early, because those two versions look similar in photographs and behave nothing alike in rain.
Freestanding, attached or integrated
Camargue, Algarve and their Canvas siblings can stand on their own columns or attach to a suitable wall. Aero, Aero Skye and Aero Canvas are designed to be integrated into a new or existing structure, which is the route to take when you want the roof to read as part of the house rather than an addition to it. Lapure is wall mounted by design.
Attachment is never a detail to assume. Fixing into masonry, timber framing or an insulated facade each carry their own requirements, and the structure below a pergola matters as much as the roof above it.
The weather numbers, in plain English
Three manufacturer figures appear on every one of these pages, and they are more useful once translated.
Every one of these figures is a manufacturer maximum for an approved configuration. Your span, your fixings and your local conditions decide what your structure is actually signed off to do.
The options are decided at quote stage, not after
Screens, sliding glass or Loggia panels, outdoor curtains, up and down LED lighting, in blade lighting, heating, Beam Heat and Sound, rain sensors and smart controls are all specified while the structure is being quoted. Frames come in RAL colours, and several models offer Wooddesign blade or Classic Line detailing.
This matters practically: retrofitting a screen track or a lighting run into a finished aluminium structure is not the same job as building it in. Decide what the space is for before the quote, not after the install.
What made to measure changes about buying
None of these carry a shelf price, because none of them have a standard size. What you send us decides everything: approximate width and depth, mounting details, whether you want freestanding or attached, your project ZIP code, and the finish and comfort options you have in mind. We review the configuration with Renson before confirming specification, availability, installation scope and lead time.
Photographs of the space help more than people expect, particularly of the wall or facade a roof would attach to.
Which one fits your project
Not sure which of those describes you? That is the normal starting point, and the quote conversation is built for it. Send the space and we will work backwards from there.
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