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Buildings Refurbishment and Maintenance
Yorkon York High School
Yorkon Hayes School
Makingmaintenance
because the frames are fabricated off site.
David Johnson, Director and General Manager of
school construction specialists and Portakabin
subsidiary, Yorkon agrees that reducing the amount
workforyou
of time on site is paramount in all types of school
building projects. “Minimising disruption during any
construction work at a school is a key issue and can
be a major challenge for schools. This applies to
refurbishment works, as well as new build projects
S
choolmaintenanceandrefurbishmentisan may not be the labour available, or the quality of
because new facilities are often built on land
essentialpartofthedutyofcaretothepupils labour and installation may have to be
adjacent to an existing school.
andstaff.Butgonearethedayswhenitconstituted compromised. This can be a particular problem
“As off-site specialists, we are able to carry out
acaretakerreplacingafewlightbulbsorgivingthe where specialist contractors are concerned, as trying
much of the building work away from the school
classroomsalickofpaintduringtheholidays. to replace skilled workers with more general
site in a controlled factory environment which
Now the business of refurbishment, in particular, building contractors can often lead to issues further
minimises disruption, and we often programme
is fraught with a number of new considerations. down the line. It certainly pays to book the best
work on site to take place during school holidays to
How environmentally friendly are the materials people for the job as early as possible, both in terms
reduce disruption even further.”
used? Where were they sourced? How inspiring are of ensuring a high quality of work and your peace
Terrapin has also produced a range of toilet pods
the colour choices? How do they conform to the of mind.
that are pre-manufactured and can be quickly
myriad of Health & Safety considerations that are Many companies start the building process off
attached to an existing school minimising
now currently in place. And this is before one even site in order to minimise the amount of disruption
disruption. These attractive and cost-effective toilet
gets to the difficult issue of cost… caused to schools by reducing the length of the
facilities also aim to improve the health and
But James Lightly of flooring and walling installation process. Architectural aluminium glazing
behaviour of pupils at a time of greater health fears
specialists Altro believes the very first consideration specialist, Technal, has launched a new rapid-build
(e.g. Swine Flu) and more awareness of bullying.
for schools looking to undergo maintenance and façade system for low rise building applications –
Leading school architecture practice Walters &
refurbishment work is timing. and the first in the UK to offer integral opening
Cohen was commissioned by the DCSF to design
“The absence of pupils for a six week period in vents. MODAL has an innovative modular design,
the prototype toilet pods, in consultation with the
the summer provides the ideal opportunity for developed to reduce work on site and give
staff and students at Brittons School. After the
schools to carry out much needed maintenance and specifiers the widest choice of configuration options
successful installation of the pioneering WC facilities
refurbishment work, with everything from routine currently available for façades up to two storeys.
in March 2009, the facilities have been monitored
repairs to more extensive building works scheduled The technically advanced yet simple modular
over the past few months for their effectiveness by
into just a few short weeks,” he says. “Because of frame uses a unique airtight clip system, which is
the pupils themselves. The aim of the design is to
this limited timescale it is vital that planning for faster to install, provides enhanced weather
do away with the spaces in traditional toilet blocks
summer building and maintenance work is made at resistance and allows greater quality control
where bullying could take place. Also, dirty, broken
an early stage.”
Lightly points out that schools up and down the
country are all going through a similar exercise, Britton School toilets before
making this time of year the busiest period for
(bottom left) and after (right)
contractors. This situation is coupled with the fact
that the summer months are also the busiest time
for the construction industry in general, taking
advantage of the longer days and better weather.
The net result of the high level of scheduled work
through the summer months leads to an increased
demand for skilled contractors in a market place
that already has widely reported skills shortages.
In short, if you don’t plan early for the work that
you want to be carried out in the summer there
38
www.education-today.co.uk September 2009
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