Member Article

Offsite build delivers much needed school places

As schools up and down the country face pressure to provide extra places over the next year, a number are turning to offsite construction methods for their ability to deliver their vision at speed and with versatility.

One such local authority which has looked to maximise the benefits of modular build is the Royal Borough of Greenwich. Based in the heart of south-east London, it has been working with De Lucy Primary School to expand its existing teaching facilities to accommodate an extra 210 pupils over the next four years.

Working in partnership with Lakehouse Construction and offsite build specialists - Roan Building Solutions – De Lucy commissioned a 670m2, two-storey modular building. This comprised six classroom blocks, two group rooms, office space, male and female WC’s and cloakrooms made up of 24 module units.

It was completed – on budget – in September 2014 with an on site installation time of just seven weeks meaning it took just 22-weeks to deliver the building from its design to completion.

Designed to meet BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standards – one of the world’s most widely recognised and prestigious measures of a building’s environmental performance – the complex provides De Lucy Primary School with comfortable, innovative, sustainable functional facilities.

The building is in tune with the aesthetic aspirations of the teachers, children and their parents as Kerry Lodge – headteacher at De Lucy Primary School – explains: “The expansion has provided space to accommodate the growth of the school and supported better organisation of the additional classes. Separate work from Roan’s building but integrated with it is the outside learning environment - complete with a staged area and a mud pie kitchen - for the 90 children in our reception class.”

The bespoke, eco-friendly and sustainable building includes the use of energy-efficient materials such as mono-crystalline PV panels and mono-draught wind catchers to increase natural ventilation and reduce energy costs.

To reduce on site construction time, all modules had been pre-fitted with electrics, plumbing, heating, doors, windows, dry wipe-boards and internal finishes before leaving the factory. The modules were then simply delivered to site where they were craned into prepared foundations.

“Projects such as De Lucy can be fast-tracked and completed within short lead times and with minimal disruption to day-to-day school activities,” says Matthew Goff, UK sales director at Roan.

“It is this ability to construct a building on site within a matter of weeks which makes modular buildings a popular choice for the education sector. They need robust quality buildings with a high quality finish coupled with many aspiring towards BREEAM ratings. Those decision makers are now safe in the knowledge that a modular building can achieve all of these in a fraction of the time compared to traditional build methods without a price premium.

“Offsite build provides a permanent solution which is sustainable, innovative and energy- efficient. Speed and versatility is essential as the education sector wrestles with the challenge of increasing space quickly which is fit for the long-term.

“De Lucy now has a building which not only delivered the extra space they needed but also has added to the architectural fabric of this primary school. We like to think we took their idea and turned it into an even better reality,” says Matthew.

The build included a full mechanical and electrical installation fit-out.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Roan Building Solutions .