NEWS
INDUSTRY UPDATES Each month PSBJ rounds up the latest public sector construction updates, from new contracts to industry awards.
Academy completion brings 1150 Groundbreaking eco new pupil places to Birmingham leisure facility plans approved More than 1000 new school places have been created in Yardley Wood, Birmingham, thanks to the completion of a brand-new secondary academy school. Christ Church, Church of England, Secondary Academy, which is due to welcome pupils this month, has been built by the Department for Education (DfE) to create an additional 1150 school places for the region. Designed by architecture firm CPMG Architects and delivered by contractor Willmott Dixon, the new £19m, three-storey school includes facilities to accommodate 900 secondarylevel pupils, and a further 250 students in the sixth form. The new building comprises a pick-up and drop-off area for pupils, a sports hall, two full-size football pitches and one FA-standard 3G pitch. Traditional materials have been used in a contemporary manner to create a clean and simple aesthetic, whilst providing robustness and ease of maintenance, including a concrete raft ground floor, traditional brick and block wall construction with a feature of render and facade cladding to express the academy’s identity. Sara Harraway, Director at CPMG Architects, said: “We worked very closely with the school while developing the design, establishing a design concept based around the trust’s values and the school’s branding. This has seen the introduction of a neutral colour palette, interspersed with bursts of signature blue and yellow feature elements.”
Beard starts work on St John’s College historic library refurbishment Oxford-based construction firm Beard is set to start work on the third and final phase of a major refurbishment of a historic library, within the grounds of one of the UK’s most important architectural sites. The family-run firm, which specialises in the education sector, will be on site at St John’s College, Oxford, to start work on the £10m project to refurbish the Old Library and Laudian Library located in the Canterbury Quadrangle. The site is not only world famous as a seat of learning but also Grade 1 Listed as it is one of the few remaining examples in the UK of the High Baroque architectural style, dating back to the early 17th century. Beard was appointed due to the quality of work and faultless delivery for phase one of the project, and its track record in the wider education sector. The final phase of work is expected to be finished by early 2023 and consists of refurbishment of the college’s existing Laudian Library and Old Library, with remodelling of an area known as the Paddy Room under the Old Library. The Paddy Room area underwent a refurbishment in the 1970s, which will be removed as part of the new work, to reinstate the rooms that existed previously.
06
A revolutionary eco-friendly leisure centre, which is on track to be one of the first wet and dry Passivhaus-certified leisure centres in the world, has been given the go-ahead after designs submitted by sports and leisure expert GT3 Architects and Passivhaus designer Gale & Snowden were approved. Located in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, the groundbreaking leisure facility has been designed with sustainability and wellbeing at its core. As a result, GT3 and Gale & Snowden Architects are also working closely with national governing bodies, including Sport England, around the lessons learnt and the data coming out of this facility with a view to providing documentation around what is needed to create Passivhaus and healthy buildings within the leisure industry. The building also features a wide range of modern facilities, including rooftop 3G sports pitches, competitive, learner and splash swimming pools, mini spa, sports hall, gym and flexible studio space, soft play, Clip ‘n Climb, cafe with poolside viewing and more. Mark Gowdridge, Director at GT3 Architects, said: “We’re delighted that the plans have been given the green light and we’re able to start taking this fantastic project forwards. Sustainability defines the design on this project and a Passivhaus-certified design will result in energy and cost savings of up to 60%, which is a huge cost reduction over the building’s lifecycle.”
TopHat secures place on Building Better framework Goldman Sachs-backed modular housing firm TopHat has secured a place on the Building Better framework. The Building Better framework, supported by the National Housing Federation and delivered by Procurement for Housing, is a strategic alliance of housing associations working together to realise the benefits of offsite manufacturing. TopHat has secured ‘Lot 1’ of the framework and will deliver homes under its ‘turnkey’ solution – whereby TopHat will undertake the groundwork, develop the site and deliver the homes from its factory in South Derbyshire where they are manufactured along production lines. The framework is designed to provide members with access to a single provider, in this case, TopHat, capable of supplying a full range of housing and apartment solutions through a variety of delivery methods, ranging from supply only to full turnkey provision. The Building Better framework comes as housing associations move away from traditional housebuilding and towards modern methods of construction that can deliver homes in half the time and are up to 70% more sustainable.
