A new-build 2FE school to provide a permanent new home for Ashmole Primary School. The school created 420 places for pupils aged four to 11 and provides teaching space for KS1 and KS2 along with offices, a sports hall, a community room and a canteen.
The school was built on a land-filled site with debris built up from previous excavations in the local area. The ground was found to contain asbestos and obstructions. The risk was quantified and a management strategy was put in place to remove the asbestos and obstructions from the site. This put significant pressure on the project programme.
The use of SIPs achieved a 10 week programme saving during the pre-construction phase and a five week programme saving during the construction phase of the project. This has led to SIPs being used on subsequent SCF and Morgan Sindall projects. The frame, including the roof, floor and walls, was installed in 13 weeks, which is a significant saving compared to traditional construction methods.
The use of SIPs achieved a 10 week programme saving during the pre-construction phase and a five week programme saving during the construction phase of the project. This has led to SIPs being used on subsequent SCF and Morgan Sindall projects. The frame, including the roof, floor and walls, was installed in 13 weeks, which is a significant saving compared to traditional construction methods.
100% payment within 30 days terms
98% waste diverted from landfill
100% timber responsibly sourced
Zero RIDDORs
CCS Score 39/45
7 work experience placements
94 apprenticeship weeks
£5k charitable donations
23 SMEs
Soft landings for handover
Dedicated Morgan Sindall point of contact
On-line portal for notifying any defects with 3 priority categories for response times
Email: james.wright@hants.gov.uk
Phone: : 07761 330560
Email: alan.smedley@morgansindall.com
Phone: 07967 686066
Somerset
Project Team
Project Manager
Aecom
Architect
AWW
Civil Engineer
Services Design Solution
A challenging site that had to battle flooding after a string of winter storms, the team involved have overcome numerous obstacles to deliver the school successfully to Somerset County Council.
The team had to undertake a major value engineering process, which led to a substantial redesign to bring the project in to budget, as well as building on a site with significant drainage issues.
The team designed a bund to provide acoustic protection for the school from the neighbouring motorway (M5), all while maintaining strong and collaborative working relationships between all parties.
However, Willmott Dixon are experts in navigating complex and challenging builds, finding solutions and making sure the works carried out meet expected requirements, so we were able to successfully deliver the project to a high standard.
Construction of a new 160 Place All-Through Special Educational Needs School (SEN) with administration facilities, hydrotherapy pool, sensory areas, carparking and other required facilitating and external works on greenfield land. Also include the construction of a spine road to facilitate access to the new school.
Willmott Dixon’s team of education specialists have constructed a state of the art, new two-storey SEN School in Bridgwater creating 160 school places, bringing pupils from two existing sites under one roof.
The new all-age school includes accessible classrooms, dining hall, sports hall, sensory and therapy rooms and a hydrotherapy pool. Outside a sensory garden, multi-use games area and adventure playground will provide lots of spaces to support the pupils’ physical and sensory needs.
99% prompt and fair payments
Zero Harm
97% waste diverted from landfill
Handover & Aftercare Contractor Promise
Email: kingsley.clarke@devon.gov.uk
Phone: 07805760622
Email: guy.dawes@willmottdixon.co.uk
Phone: 07989 179444
The school, previously known as Bordon Secondary School needed to meet the requirements of 900 school places and relocate from the eastern side of town to a more central location for children in both Bordon and neighbouring Whitehill. In 2015, Bordon and Whitehill were selected by the NHS’s Healthy New Towns scheme in hopes to develop a healthier environment, a strong sense of community and better care services within the local area. It was therefore imperative that the new school included facilities that would boost the children’s well-being.
Due to constricting budget restraints, it was crucial that Kier worked closely with Hampshire County Council’s team and maintained consistent communication throughout the project to help bring their dream school to life.
In order to create a modern and cohesive learning environment that satisfies the councils’ design, a proposal was approved for a collegiate style campus with four separate buildings connected by a central courtyard. This courtyard was intended to be a social and teaching hub, therefore encouraging a positive and well-connected community.
As part of the town’s Healthy Living Masterplan, extensive consultation with Sport England was carried out to devise a diverse range of facilities that could be used by the children all year round, therefore encouraging activity. The school was built in an area easily accessible for residents of Bordon and Whitehill, acting as a gateway to intertwine the communities.
To prioritise sustainability, the project adopted a low-energy, fabric-first strategy by making the most of the surrounding and historical Woolmer Forest. This resulted in the school possessing beautiful views of nature, boosting student and faculty morale. Additionally, a large expanse of PV panels on the southern teaching wing’s roof provides 10% of the school’s energy requirements.
The new Oakmoor School is a modern building with two-storey teaching wings spanning from the central courtyard, with school halls and sports halls at either end. The covered courtyard effectively reduces internal floor area and prevents the corridors from becoming overcrowded. Additionally, entrances to teaching wings are defined by staircases, once again minimising the volume of students within corridors. Passing through the courtyard promotes a healthier lifestyle as students and teachers will get a breath of fresh air while traveling easily between classes.
10% energy requirements from green energy
Zero RIDDORs
900 academy places
Handover & Aftercare Contractor Promise
Email: james.wright@hants.gov.uk
Phone: 07761 330560
Email: james.parr@kier.co.uk
Phone: 07794218011
Winchester, Hampshire
Awards
RIBA Awards 2022
Shortlisted
AJ Architecture Awards 2021
School category – Shortlisted
SPACES Awards 2021
Highly Commended
Civic Trust Awards 2022
Project Team
Project Manager: Hampshire County Council
Architect: Hampshire County Council (Property Services)
Civil Engineering: Hampshire County Council (Property Services)
Due to the 2,000 new homes being built as part of the Kings Barton development, there was a requirement for additional school places for the local area.
The project presented a challenging cost plan and was a very intricate, detailed and customer led design.
Unfortunately the project was put on hold for 12 months due to the housing developer not being as advanced as first anticipated, which meant the school placements weren’t needed as early as first though. With the project being pushed back a year, the planning had expired by the time the project was up and running again.
By aligning with the school’s high standards for environmental sustainability and quality, Willmott Dixon were able to create an environment where children will learn and flourish which is aspirational, inclusive and joyful.
The School’s design is based on sustainable, low energy, fabric-first principles achieving BREEAM Excellent rating with: wild flower green roof; PV’s, natural ventilation; surface water drainage managed on site with porous surfaces; bio-diverse landscape areas in courtyards; and rainwater recycling for flushing wc’s and landscape irrigation.
The design also incorporated future planning and infrastructure for a future 1FE expansion and a Teacher Development Facility.
The architecturally striking school, designed by Hampshire County Council’s award-winning Property Services Team, features a main hall, holistic music and drama studio, ‘discovery point’ library, staff room and workspace, administration offices, and classrooms offering a high quality learning environment.
The school is one of the most sustainable schools in Hampshire and it has created over 400 new school places.
A key part of the success of this project was the customer welcoming early supply chain input and engaging in collaborative working practices.
Regular payments and have payment periods not exceeding 30 days
99% of target waste diverted
Zero RIDDORs
CCS Score 41
4 Apprenticeships
140 Apprenticeship weeks
Handover & Aftercare Contractor Promise
Email: guy.dawes@willmottdixon.co.uk
Phone: 07989 179444
The Marlborough Primary and Special School project overseen by main contractor Mace saw the redevelopment by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to provide a new two form entry primary school in the heart of Chelsea. It has seen the old unsuitable Victorian school building on the site demolished and the construction of a new Marlborough Primary School.
Robust strategies were agreed with suppliers and RBKC highways. Utilising an online booking system with additional on-site traffic marshals and suspension of adjacent parking bays to create a holding pit-lane. Together with detailed method statements submitted and approved by the adjacent party wall surveyors.
Prior to any demolition works being undertaken careful planning took place including surveys such as R&D to determine the extent of asbestos material.
Careful planning and development works were undertaken in conjunction with the school to ensure the temporary school met their teaching requirements. A detailed time/motion study was also undertaken to ensure the school was moved with the minimal of fuss.
Construction stage management plans including logistics and community engagement were delivered which fully document how liaison with local residents was undertaken together with arrangements to control construction nuisance.
The project was able to reclaim more than 80,000 bricks from the demolition of the original school building.
98% waste diverted from landfills
Financial management was proactively managed for the duration of the contract.
To ensure the works did not unduly impact local residents, a Section 61 Agreement was obtained with specific agreements on working hours, delivery times and construction nuisance.
Both Mace and the supply chain provided extensive apprentice opportunities through appointment of an employment/skills manager and charter.
The handover plan, developed during preconstruction, ensured we adequately programmed and resourced RBKC’s handover requirements, this included a detailed handover checklist for our team.
Email: james.wright@hants.gov.uk
Phone: : 07761 330560
Email: david.chambers@macegroup.com
Phone: 07789 514895
Client
Bridgwater & Taunton College
Project Manager
Bridgwater & Taunton College
Architect
Austin Smith Lord LLP
Contractor
Midas Construction Ltd
Value
£7.1 million
Contract Period
56 weeks
Procurement Type
2 stage open book
Form of Contract
JCT Design & Build 2011
Size
2,690m²
The multi-award winning National College for Nuclear (NCfN) is a flagship nuclear training centre offering classrooms, simulators and practical training facilities. The innovative NCfN is transforming teaching in this sector to meet the demands of this growing industry. The state-of-the-art educational spaces include virtual reality (VR) and reactor simulator suites, computer labs, training classrooms and workshops; and the campus offers staff facilities, a gymnasium, social area and changing amenities.
Midas completed this design and build project to BREEAM Excellent, constructing a pair of two-storey buildings with an enclosed link bridge at the college’s live Cannington Campus. Works included a lift shaft; fit out; mechanical, electrical and plumbing works; raised access flooring; and external infrastructure works including roads, paving and landscaping. Internally, Midas provided high capacity Wi-Fi coverage, floor boxes for power and fixed data ports to each room and the curtain batten to the perimeter of the VR suite.
The NCfN won “Project of the Year (over £5m)” and was shortlisted for “Education Project of the Year” in the 2018 Michelmores Property Awards; won “Best Educational Building” in the 2018 Somerset Building Control Partnership Awards; and won “Digital Construction Project / Initiative of the Year” in the 2018 Constructing Excellence South West Awards.
Career Opportunities
Supporting Local Businesses
The construction site could only be accessed through the live campus.
To safely manage site access through the operational campus, Midas worked with the college during the preconstruction stage to agree management of site access through the live college and to agree suitable delivery time and size restrictions with a strict delivery protocol, including employing a full time gate controller located at the college entrance to direct site traffic and keep the site gates closed. At the start of the works the team erected Heras fencing to low risk areas and solid hoarding at high risk areas.
During the construction stage Midas carried out site weekly logistic meetings with the client and liaised frequently with the college staff, programming works to their convenience to mitigate disruption and maintaining a positive working relationship.
It was essential that the live college had uninterrupted service provision and campus access during term times.
Midas ensured the college had continuous services and undisturbed, safe campus access for staff and students by completing infrastructure and service works during weekends, with works involving disconnection of the power completed outside of the college’s operational hours. Midas maintained access and egress through the campus and confirmed quiet periods with the college, planning noisy works outside of exam times and keeping them to a minimum. The team completed all high-risk works during college holidays.
The client required the project delivered to BREEAM Excellent.
The project successfully achieved BREEAM Excellent through measures including: installation of 52 roof mounted solar PV panels with an area circa 300m²; fitting of energy efficient lifts; formation of bicycle storage; use of eco site cabins with EPC ratings; diversion of 98.9% of waste from landfill; and recycling 97% of materials. All inert excavated or demolished materials remained on site and the team donated surplus materials, such as bricks and carpet tiles, to the college’s estates department. Midas minimised disturbance of the live campus and achieved credits towards the BREEAM Excellent certification by appointing an acoustician to carry out acoustic testing for plant noise levels. Testing included an assessment of noise impact from fixed sources, with noise from the proposed fixed plant equipment assessed to minimise impact on neighbouring noise sensitive buildings; measurement of airborne and impact sound insulation between sample rooms; sample measurement of the internal ambient noise level; and sample measurement of reverberation times.
The college needed use of an existing ancillary workshop, due to be demolished as part of the programme, until the end of the 2017 academic term.
Midas adjusted the programme of works to accommodate the college’s requirements. The team left the workshop building operational until the college’s summer break, then employed a licensed contractor to remove asbestos containing materials (ACMs) from the workshop prior to demolishing it. The site team segregated areas with ACMs, included asbestos awareness in toolbox talks and followed Midas’ asbestos policy, including creation of a site specific HS002 Asbestos Management Plan, to safely manage these works.
Our Success
Our Learnings
Value Added
Contract | Gateway 2 – Planning | Gateway 3 Contract Agreement | Variation |
Cost | £7,391,129 | £6,843,317 | -£547,813 (-7.4%) |
Time | 54 Weeks | 54 weeks | 0.43 weeks 0% |
KPI Graphs
Galliford Try has achieved practical completion on the new Cherry Garden special school. The new building for London Borough of Southwark, designed by Hawkins Brown Architects and procured through SCF, has enabled the expansion of an Ofsted Outstanding special school from 47 to 75 pupils, with additional provision for children of nursery age.
The new accommodation is arranged in two blocks and provides flexible and adaptable spaces to meet the changing needs of the children, including a hydrotherapy pool, a trampoline room, soft play and sensory rooms.
The project was delivered through SCF’s two-stage open book process, facilitating a collaborative approach to meeting LB Southwark’s cost, time and quality objectives and promoting safe construction environments, with Galliford Try achieving a Considerate Constructors Scheme score of 43, significantly above the 2018 national average of 36.1.
The school forms part of LB Southwark’s programme of primary school expansions, five of which Galliford Try has delivered through SCF to meet the Borough’s objective of providing great learning facilities for future generations, all within the context of restrained budgets and timescales.
Our Success
Our Learnings
Value Added
Contact: Andrew Bacon, SCF Framework Account Manager
Email: andrew.bacon@gallifordtry.co.uk
Phone: (T) +44 1483 477000, (M) +44 7526 167803
Client
University of Bristol
Architect
ADP
Contractor
ISG Construction
Value
£9.8m
Contract Period
74-week programme
Form of Contract
NEC 4
GIFA
2,551 M2
The new state-of-the-art Humanities Building is located in the Arts Complex surrounded by a series of handsome of Victorian villas with Woodland Road nearby.
Surrounded by buildings with mixed ownership, this scheme has complex party wall challenges that were all fully investigated during the early design stage. In addition, the basement encompasses the entire footprint of the site, therefore effective logistics management is critical to the success of the build.
Restricted footprint
To overcome the restricted footprint, ISG is working closely with Bristol City Council Highways Department to create a traffic-controlled loading lane on the busy Tyndalls Road. This has enabled the efficient offload of materials via the site tower crane, which is of vital importance to the movement of materials around site.
Access routes
Access routes for site operatives are also carefully managed. The site office and welfare facilities are based in one of the existing villas and as progress on site continues, access routes for operatives are adapted to meet the demands of the project.
Impact on adjacent Grade ΙΙ listed villas
The original site comprises an existing single-storey building and external courtyard space, located behind the two main Grade ΙΙ listed villas.
This adjacency to existing buildings was immediately identified during the pre-construction phase as a key area of design risk, and early works involved re-evaluation of the basement perimeter, to increase the area between existing buildings and the boundary, whilst maximising the footprint to accommodate a lecture theatre, cinema, and plant room.
Vibration monitoring ensured piling works for both the contiguous wall and the basement floor, from which the steel frame is mounted, did not impact on adjacent properties too.
Basement design
As the Risk Schedule identified the basement design as the area of highest risk, ISG and the design team appraised various re-design options.
The priority was to re-design the basement perimeter, with the requirement to both minimise risk to adjacent properties and enable sufficient space to construct the retaining walls. By re-positioning the plant room and subsequent risers, whilst maintaining the position of the lecture theatre, adequate space was created.
Design of the retaining structure
With budget and programme constraints to consider, a hybrid solution was developed, which moved away from the simplest option of using contiguous piling in all three areas.
Retaining structure solutions:
Our Success
Our Learnings
Value Added
Contact: Emma Bull, Framework Manager
Email: Emma.Bull@isgplc.com
Client
Devon County Council
Project Manager
Ravenslade
Architect
NPS Group
Contractor
Morgan Sindall
Value
£929k
Contract Period
32 weeks
Procurement Type
Two Stage Build with CDP
Form of Contract
JCT 2011 IFC
Apprentices
One
Project summary New build 4 classroom block extension on a live primary school site. The works included the construction of a new teaching facility on the existing grounds of the school.
Employment Skills Plan
A full Employment Skills Plan (ESP) was completed on the project, including:
Controlling the Programme
From receiving the design tender information to agreeing the contract sum, the turnaround was less than four weeks. The site team were mobilised within two weeks and the demolition of the existing temporary classrooms was completed in the school holidays to reduce health and safety risks and gain a head start on the programme. The new building was handedover in two phases to suit the school to enable time for the teaching areas to be fitted out.
Controlling costs
A number of cost saving options were provided throughout the project to keep under budget, particularly following a large design change for the foundations which required much of the project contingency. One of the big savings achieved was by omitting the proposed water main into the building and instead using the existing connection into the demolished temporary classrooms and introducing a booster to achieve the required pressure.
Design of the school was impractical
The design of the school was impractical, which led to a delay in the programme. Morgan Sindall provided alterations in the pre-constuction phase which were then used to improve the programme. One of the alternatives that we proposed was a concrete slab foundation, which was the most efficient design to minimise delay on site and provide a more economic solution.
Our Success
Our Learnings
Value Added
Contract | Gateway 3 Planning | Gateway 4 Contract Agreement | Variation |
Cost | £929,954 | £920,451 | -0.06% |
Time | 34.4 weeks | 34.4 weeks | NIL |
KPI Statistics:
Contact: Rob Buckler, Framework Manager
Email: Rob.buckler@morgansindall.com
Client
Devon County Council
Contractor
Kier
Value
£6.9 million
Contract Period
17 weeks
Procurement Type
NEC3 Option A
Apprentices Employed
6 no. (2no with GT & Trac and 4 no. with supply chain – Roe, Halsion, PJE)
SME spend
85% and within LA catchment area 84%
Total added value benefits
£253,758
Following the completion of the demolition, the new build consisted of a new single storey building. The facility is completed with external landscaping and hard surfaces. The steel frame construction on a piled and concrete ground beamed foundation covers 2050m². The external appearance consists of cladding and coloured rendered panels with the internals being constructed of metal stud partitioning and plasterboard to leave a decorative finish.
Events
Learning Experiences
Live Primary School
The logistics were carefully managed and planned due to the works taking place on a live primary school.
Limited Vehicle Access
The vehicle access through the main gates were used by school users. To ensure that there was no disruption to the school or its users the access was carefully managed to ensure school users moved throughout the site safely by keeping it exclusive for school use between 8am and 9am and 3pm and 4pm.
Our Success
Our Learnings
Value Added
Contact: James Parr
Email: james.parr@kier.co.uk