School profi le
Step by step: The various stages of the building process
how our building would be built. This was a major turning point for us as HCC were then able to understand the entire construction process and to see that its exacting building regulations would be met entirely by this modular build. At this point, no school in Hampshire had used this company, so we arranged to go out of county, again with HCC and governors in tow, to view a fi nished building that would be similar to ours. After these visits everybody seemed to be happy to progress with the
pre-engineered structure, especially after governors were told that the building would have a minimal structural design life of 60 years and, in line with their other projects, would achieve a BREEAM “excellent” rating. This meant little to me until I did a little research; BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation and has become one of the most comprehensive and widely recognised measures of a building’s environmental performance. In addition to environmental benefi ts, Mr Heer confi rmed to governors that he had asked HCC to carry out costings for us and to achieve the same size studio using traditional building methods, the costs would be exactly doubled and the building process would take more than twice as long . Finally we were ready to go. The local authority and the building fi rm then had to work together to
ensure that they were building to exactly the same regulations. I quickly learnt that Hampshire has very high standards and it did mean that one or two minor modifi cations had to be made to the initial plans they had given us. It meant that we were getting a better building but it also meant that we would have to wait longer to get it. Planning permission was acquired by HCC on our behalf. With some modifi cations it did mean costs increased; the biggest increase was to pay for HCC involvement. There were times during the process when I wished we had gone it
alone, but the biggest grant we received stipulated HCC involvement. On occasion I became frustrated at the hold ups and considered forgoing this grant, but in hindsight we are really glad that we were patient, as we have ended up with a terrifi c building that will still be terrifi c in 50 years’ time. Prior to the build starting, we thought it prudent to write to local
residents giving them details of timescales and reassuring them that any deliveries to the school would not take place at the already busy periods at the start and end of the school day. We asked for a representative of the building company to attend a school assembly and to briefl y and simply explain the main stages of the building process to the children. Typically, having waited some months for HCC and the building fi rm to agree on a start date, the fi rst week of the build then coincided with our health and safety audit by the local authority. I know from the inspection work I do that a health and safety audit is not quite such a big deal in most local authorities, but in Hampshire it is fairly painful. Anyway, the audit passed off successfully without the construction work causing any issues – another box ticked. One of the most exciting bits about having a pre-engineered building
constructed is when the huge pieces of wall, fl oor and ceiling are craned into position. The builders had kindly tipped us off the day before, so
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teachers could bring their classes out to watch this exciting part of the construction. The children loved this experience. In fact that day was the most magical, because when the parents dropped their kids off in the morning there was nothing but foundations, but when they returned at 3pm the building was up. It sounds incredible but this really was the case. Obviously weeks of work remained, but the skeleton structure of the building was put up in less than fi ve hours. In all, the contractors were on site for 10 weeks and for a room of over
100 square metres we thought this was pretty good going. In order to track the build we put photographs of the different stages on our school website; we felt this was important as it gave a chance for all stakeholders who had contributed to the fundraising process a chance to see how it was progressing. Towards the end of the construction, the company installed the sound
system that we had chosen, as well as the 70-inch touchscreen I had previously seen at the BETT Show. As well as playing an important part in the day-to-day use of the room we thought these extras would add to the “wow factor” of the facility, and they certainly did. The children were
“One of the most exciting bits about having a pre-engineered building constructed is when the huge pieces of wall, fl oor and ceiling are craned into position.”
delighted that they could record their dances on fl ip cameras, pop these in the USB port on the huge screen and watch their performances back instantly. We planned an offi cial opening of the building a few weeks after we
started using it and were sure to invite everyone who had played their part in helping us raise the £200,000 that we had eventually needed to make our dream a reality. It was great to see so many year 7 pupils return to see the studio that they had helped us achieve, but had not had the chance to use before they left for secondary school. A governor recently asked me if, with hindsight, I would do anything
differently and while there were periods of waiting that were frustrating, without the knowledge and expertise of Bowie from HCC, combined with the specialist know-how and skills that the building fi rm provided, we would not have the absolutely fantastic facility that we have ended up with. So, in a nutshell, I am very happy with exactly how things have worked out. The challenge now for us is to further develop community use of the
building so that it can be used at weekends and evenings by dance and drama groups. This has very much been a community project from the outset and we are now keen that as many members of the community are able to come and use this new facility as possible.
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