Building, Maintenance, Refurbishment & Grounds
Wernick provides ‘next generation’ modular building
E
rmington Community Primary School was built in 1879 and has served the local community
well with many generations of village children receiving their primary education within its Victorian walls. With the expansion of pre-school provision the school required extra space rapidly. Until recently this was provided in a conservatory built on to the main school building and a far from suitable village hall. NPS South West, the property design and construction company, was commissioned to design a new building for the school specifically for pre-school children. The brief from Devon County Council to Keith
Stone, the surveyor for NPS was, “to provide a building that would change the style of the familiar mobile classroom.” Cost-effectiveness was top priority as was a tight delivery schedule. Keith approached Neath Abbey based Wernick Buildings, who have an office in the West Country.
Wernick was able to convert Keith’s specific design requirements into a factory built modular construction reality, complete with very attractive façade. Keith commented that, “Ermington is an attractive rural village surrounded by woodland. It’s also in a conservation area. So my design had to be sensitive to the surroundings and aesthetically pleasing. I chose modular construction because I have used it very successfully before. It’s fast, cost-effective and can be adapted to just about any educational design concept – it’s limited only by the designer’s imagination. The exterior of the building is partly finished in Siberian Larch; a sustainable wood that also compliments the school’s environment.” The primary school draws its 136 students from
a wide catchment area that is dominated by the agricultural industry. The new pre-school building accommodates 20 children between the ages of 2½ and 4½ during school hours. From 3.30 pm onwards the kitchen is used for ‘Food for Life’ classes open to any school age children, who have a fun time learning domestic science through “growing, cooking and eating”. Use by the local community, an after school ‘kids club’, and the school’s fundraising association completes the building’s multi-purpose use which the school manages and lets as it sees fit. After the new building’s ground works had
been completed the four bays which comprise the modular building were delivered and craned-in in one day. Finishing work took eight weeks. The building’s natural stone and Siberian Larch exterior finish is complimented by a natural slate trussed roof. “Our children and the local
A Wernick Building. The King's School, Ottery St Mary. The new Wernick pre-school building at Ermington Primary.
A spacious interior. Ermington pre-school.
community love this new building”, said Karen Sims-Stirling, the schools bursar.` A similar traditionally built structure would take
a minimum of 20 weeks to complete. A greatly reduced on-site time scale is particularly important in any community, but in a village like Ermington, with its narrow access lanes, it is a major consideration. At a school or college campus the ability to schedule the delivery of a modular building to coincide with holidays or weekends is often a critical factor for senior staff such as Jane Byrne, Ermington’s head teacher. As it happens this arrangement was not necessary and Jane was able to claim that the school’s day-to-day activities were not affected by noise or any other disruption from the building site which had been part of their car park. With modular build most of the construction is completed in a controlled factory environment, so the amount of heavy plant on a client’s site is dramatically reduced, thus minimizing environmental impact on the area and reducing health and safety risks.
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