The project involved the demolition of existing school buildings and the construction of a new two-storey school extension which comprises classrooms, offices, laboratories and art exhibitions. Flexible layouts were developed to tie in with existing school buildings and make the most of the constrained space available on site.
Fairhurst’s multi-disciplinary design team worked closely with the project team during RIBA Stages 2, 3, and 4 to provide concept and technical designs for civil, structural, geotechnical and transport aspects of the development.
In order to achieve the client brief and design intent, we developed a lightweight braced steel frame that would offer flexible educational spaces. Careful coordination of services, levels and structural penetrations were essential to provide a fully functional extension that tied into the levels of the existing school building.
The development of the proposals required careful consideration of the existing site constraints, such as deep made ground, services and mine workings. The expertise of our Geotechnical and Structural teams resulted in the development of cost effective and practical groundwork solutions that negated the need for deep, suspended substructures.
