MMC
OFFSITE STAYS AHEAD OF THE GAME The Government’s announcement of a ‘presumption in favour of offsite’ has helped the education sector increase the number of school places. Here, Jim Cowell, Technical Director at Elliott Offsite Solutions – soon to be Algeco – looks at some of the reasons why offsite construction of teaching spaces continues to gain favour.
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here are signs that higher proportions of children are gaining places at their first choice of school, albeit there remains continued pressures in many areas. There are a number of reasons for this, although the Department for Education’s (DfE) push on building new teaching places using offsite has undoubtedly helped alleviate some of the issues. Encouragingly, the DfE has awarded over 20 contracts with an offsite element since the Government’s announcement. Of all the Government departments – housing, health, transport and defence – education has been the one to most fully embrace a presumption in favour of offsite, and for good reasons. Compared to traditional construction, offsite techniques achieve a pre-manufactured value (PMV) of around 85%, whilst the work is completed in a quality-controlled factory environment, unaffected by the weather. This reduces the likelihood of the build being delayed by a shortage of skills on site or inclement weather conditions. It is a point not lost on many education providers where individual classrooms through to whole schools can be completed using offsite. Where required, this can be done within a schedule that fits around the school holiday window.
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Other benefits of offsite include significantly less working at height because it is a more controlled environment. Likewise, there are fewer deliveries to site – good for the local community, less noise and safer roads. In a world where environment and sustainability feature heavily in decision making, modular and offsite builds result in significant less onsite waste compared to traditional builds.
Hatchlands Primary School A need for additional school places at Hatchlands Primary School in Redhill, Surrey, arose partly as a result of new residential developments
and increasing birth rates in the area. The site is situated within an urban area where Reigate and Banstead Borough Council have a presumption in favour of sustainable development. Planning requirements meant that making efficient use of space was a high priority on this development because the 420-place school had to be created on a similar footprint to the existing structure and within the same two-storey height restriction. Construction of the completely new school at Hatchlands, in just 32 weeks, demonstrates the speed and versatility of permanent modular building systems on
what was a complex, challenging urban brownfield site adjacent to a conservation area. The turnkey scheme required demolition of the existing courthouse building and creation of a new, twostorey primary school using our modular system, along with parking and external landscaping. The development had to avoid being unduly prominent or detrimental to the character of the conservation area and surrounding residential community and neighbourhood. The new school was funded by the DfE and operated by the Everychild Trust – a multiacademy trust, whose aim is to “engage, equip and empower every child”. Development of Hatchland’s Primary School was part of the Modular-A Primary School component solution framework. Elliott was in first position on this framework, and we were awarded the first nine primary schools. Hatchlands Primary School was subsequently secured as a mini competition through this framework, along with River Mill Primary in Dartford. The Department for Education’s Modular-A covers whole primary school buildings. Ultimately, we were awarded Hatchlands because we demonstrated value for money and an ability to provide a full turnkey solution including
