A fire destroyed this local primary school in 2006. T.A.D. were appointed to lead the rebuilding of the school utilising what remained from the fire. The project evolved into a completely new build project on the site whilst the school was housed in temporary accommodation. The works comprised new classrooms, break out space, special needs support spaces, staff rest areas, sports hall, kitchen and new landscaping to the entire site.
Project Outcomes
The principal driver behind this project was to secure the long term future of the school. A small local school such as this will often not survive a fire such as this due to the capital cost required to rebuild it often being rejected in favour of amalgamation.
This political will existed to rebuild this school, however to survive in the long term the new building needed to become part of how the school operated and provide a space in which the pupils and staff could thrive, it needed to create an environment that would help the school to reverse a falling roll.
The new building has managed to achieve all that and not only is the roll increasing, but you only have to walk round the school two years after completion to see the love and care with which pupils and teachers alike treat the building. The building still looks new and has provided a basis with which the school has been able to move forward and achieve improving Ofsted reports.
As with all projects budget was critical here. There was added pressure as the expenditure was unexpected and so money came from several different funds and was stretched to the maximum.
The design responded by seeking flexible spaces that would give the school flexibility in use now and in the future whilst minimising the overall floor area. through efficient planning and multifunctional spaces to minimise the capital cost
The project overcame significant hurdles, but we still delivered it within budget, even allowing for the additional work instructed by the Client to reinstate the temporary school site that was in excess of the insurance settlement. The final account was £1.5m. The additional £100k over the initial budget related to the additional works instructed, therefore like for like the completed building matched the initial budget from 1.5 years earlier.
Since the fire the school had been housed in temporary mobile classrooms on an adjacent field. The longer the school stayed there the greater the hire costs and the less money there was available for the new building. Time was therefore critical to the budget – as well as to the sanity of the staff and pupils.
From the outset we planned for some delay during construction as part of the risk management process. This time and cost was built into the programme and could therefore be actively managed.
Completion was designed to fall around the start of the summer holidays allowing the move into the new building to occur during this break and minimise the impact on the children's education. Whilst the project finished slightly later than originally planned, due to unforeseen events, the allowance we had made at the outset minimised the budget implications and the whole team worked together to ensure that the move happened and the school was able to open for the new term.
Reduction of Carbon Footprint
Initially during the ‘like for like' replacement phase of the project, before there was a commitment to build new, several members of staff were attending regular meetings, near to the school. We therefore sought to utilise car sharing to minimise the impact of travel. Where meetings were held at the Client's offices in Nottingham we sought to arrange meetings on other projects on the same day minimising our travelling time and reducing our carbon footprint.
Electronic transfer of information was established early on as the norm for this project and reduced the amount of paper generated and therefore subsequent waste.
Our footprint delivered through the scheme design was reduced by introducing aspects of the sustainability agenda into the design.
The availability of natural daylight and ventilation are essential agents in the wellbeing of building users and enhance working conditions for staff. The use of energy efficient materials and construction for the fabric of the building, together with the use of natural light and ventilation ensured that energy consumption was kept to a minimum. Over time almost all buildings are subject to change and alteration; the materials and form of the building were chosen to ensure a sustainable future use, which can adapt to change and accept alteration.
The principal of natural ventilation was built into the design early and attention paid to avoiding locating classrooms on the south facing façade or minimising glazing on this elevation. This promoted the use of natural lighting and ventilation from high level north facing windows.
Hydrocarbon fuel sources were avoided and a biomass boiler running off locally sourced wood pellets provided the heating and hot water for the building.
An air tightness of 4m3/hr was achieved, significantly less than the regulations, reducing heat loss and therefore reducing heating demand. High levels of insulation throughout reduced the demand further and when combined with efficient building services, fittings and fixtures we delivered an efficient building that reduced our carbon footprint and delivered a cost effective facility for the Client.
