Education
Shown below are just a few examples of projects we have undertaken in the Education sector.
New Primary School at Rhosymedre, Wrexham
Wrexham County Borough Council / Watkin Jones Contractors
Completed June, 2011, entailed demolishing the existing Rhosymedre Community Primary School building and constructing a new 210 place English Primary School as a replacement.
The school design is ‘U’ shaped layout suiting the. The shape lends itself to a court yard type space that the children can spill out on from the classrooms creating areas for them to develop. The building is intended to sit very low on site with a roof pitch of only 15 deg., the main hall roof is curved and will have glazing at high level to give the illusion of it floating over the walls.
The school will achieve a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ and being highly energy efficient with high level s of insulation, ground source heat pump that draws heat from the earth to provide heating and hot water. Electric power provided by roof mounted photo voltaic modules. Externally the scheme will provide two grass sports pitches and hard play areas marked out for games. Nursery, reception and years 1 and 2 have their own self contained outdoor classrooms ready for Foundation Phase education.
Penygelli Primary School, Coedpoeth, Wrexham
Wrexham County Borough Council / Carillion
As Architects on the design team on the design and build project for the £4.7 million Ysgol Penygelli English medium school in Coedpoeth, Wrexham, partnering with Carillion, the completion of Penygelli was the first of four new schools projects completed within the Wrexham area.
The school comprises single storey classrooms with an assembly hall, kitchen and associated facilities with a two storey element central to the building, which houses a teachers' work area.
Interacting classroom layouts within each age group area, complete with sliding walls that open out into the central practical areas, provide a unique arrangement to interact with the actual classroom.
New Primary School at Cae Top, Bangor
Carillion / Gwynedd Council
The new school is designed as a 210 pupil l for 4-11 year olds and is located on a greenfield site adjacent an existing secondary school, in an area of ecological importance.
The completed school provides seven classrooms together with adjacent practical areas. In addition there are separate resource areas for IT, music, libraries and Special Educational needs.
The building incorporates an assembly hall and studio area as well as a kitchen for school meals.
The axis of the building is north - south, enabling most teaching spaces to have north or west facing aspect. This reduces solar gain into the main teaching spaces, particularly in the mornings.
The completed new school provided a BREEAM rating of ‘very good’, which achieved the client brief. Several renewable features are included:
- The orientation of the floor plan makes full use of the natural resources, particularly in its ‘L’ shape form.
- Solar panels to supplement the hot water heating.
- Ground source heat pumps to heat the under floor heating
- Photovoltaic panels and Wind Turbine to supplement the electrical consumption
- Recycled rainwater from the roof to flush the toilets
- Natural daylight and ventilation through large windows
- Wind catchers and Sun pipes to provide natural daylight and ventilation
The children will also benefit educationally by knowing how much energy is used daily by the renewable technologies.
New I D Hooson Primary School, Rhos, Wrexham
Wrexham County Borough Council / Carillion
A new primary school catering for over 200 pupils. As a BREEAM assessment was carried out post construction only , the finished building gave a ‘pass’ level.
The school is housed in a "U" shaped building with classrooms opening out on to a courtyard space that can be used for play and outdoor classes. Its low design minimizes the impact on the surrounding landscape and the main hall has curved steel cladding with glazing at a high level, giving the elusion of the roof floating over the walls.
Attention has also been paid to the environment and the new school has a ground source heat pump that draws heat from the earth to provide heating and hot water. Ancillary electric power is also provided by roof mounted photo voltaic modules.
Two grass sports pitches and hard play areas marked out for games were provided and nursery, reception and years 1 and 2 have their own self contained outdoor classrooms ready for Foundation Phase education.
The project was completed on time and on budget following on from the the successes of previous two other local schools.
Mablins Lane CP Junior School, Crewe
Cheshire County Council
Construction of single storey, three classroom extension with pupils' toilet facilities and cloaks areas complete with link into the existing school building.
Majority of the extension design are over the classroom areas formed using laminated timer beams for the structure to the sloping tiled roof. This design enabled lower eaves which are sympathetic for use with small children, but enables larger spaces to have higher ceilings. The classroom complete with random rooflights provides the natural day lighting to provide the infants with accommodation of an appropriate scale.
Elevated in traditional facing brick walling under a concrete tiled roof, the extension blends in effortlessly with the remaining school buildings.
Bryn Tabor Primary School, Coedpoeth, Wrexham
Wrexham County Borough Council / Carillion
A full refurbishment project on an existing primary school, incorporating an extension for additional accommodation to the main assembly hall.
There are new floors, walls and ceilings throughout and each classroom has fully integrated ICT infrastructure and a dedicated ICT suite. Each classroom has an associated practical area with work units, sinks and cooking facilities.
Extensions have been built to provide additional library, toilet and Early Years facilities. The main playground has been extended and the Early Years playgrounds have been equipped with soft play areas and educational playground markings. The kitchen has been fully refitted with new equipment.
Ysgol Maes y Mynydd, Rhos, Wrexham
Wrexham County Borough Council / Carillion
A £2.9 million fully refurbished and extension to double the school’s footprint, which has provided a new 360 place state of the art primary school.
The completion of Maes Y Mynydd brings to an end a £6.9 million project to reorganize and redevelop schools in the Rhos area.
Maes Y Mynydd has been built to high standard offering first class facilities and has an eco friendly theme with a ground source heat pump that draws heat from the earth to provide heating and hot water, as well as solar panels on the roof tops.
A single storey building with traditional facing brickwork and high performance double glazed aluminium windows, all under a slated roof, the development includes additional re-vamped car parking areas and specifically designed and constructed external early learning classroom areas.
Thomas Wedge Junior School, Soughall, Chester.
Cheshire County Council.
A traditional construction of single storey two classroom extension with pupils' toilet facilities and cloaks areas. To ensure a seamless link into the existing school building, an internal corridor link with glazed rooflights was provided to promote natural daylight to internal areas. This link also allowed access and integration with all main reception, staff room and head teacher's room.
In addition to the extension, internal alterations were also carried out to the existing three offices, store room and existing classroom. All floor finishes were stripped out and replaced, as were wall tiles and fittings and finishes to the bathrooms, toilets and kitchen.
As the extension elongated the existing frontage, it was imperative that the features from the original school were echoed in the new building, retaining the school's architectural statement from yesteryear.