Creating inspiring and sustainable education facilities for future generations
West Coventry Academy, Coventry (Image credit: Stride Treglown)
Article posted on: 31 October 2022
Continuing our commitment to adopting the greenest and most environmentally friendly engineering solutions, we are currently involved in a wide variety of education schemes, delivering much-needed school places and creating inspiring learning environments in buildings that also benefit the wider community.
From a nursery school on Orkney, to a huge academy offering 1500 student places in the West Midlands, we’re engaged on education projects across the UK, securing over 200 appointments in the last 12 months alone. We’re delivering specialist schemes such as schools offering SEND facilities or boarding accommodation, through to community colleges and new university departments.
Several education scheme ‘firsts’
We’re involved in a number of ‘firsts’ in the sector, with schemes that incorporate innovative designs and technologies that reduce environmental impact and enrich student experiences.
Thames Park Secondary School in Essex, accommodating 900 pupils, opened its doors in September 2022. Delivered via the DfE’s Modern Methods of Construction (MMC1) Framework, this was one of the first schools to be delivered through this process. We worked with Innovare and Bowmer + Kirkland, providing structural and timber design for the components that were manufactured and constructed offsite. Earlier this month the school won the ‘Best Use of Hybrid Technology’ category at the Explore Offsite Construction Awards.
Thames Park Secondary School, Essex (Image credit: Bowmer & Kirkland)
We provided civil and structural engineering design services to Morgan Sindall, via the ESFA Construction Framework, for a new teaching block and a 32-space accommodation block at Wymondham College. The school is one of the first in the country with primary school state boarding places.
Wymondham College Prep School, Wymondham
St John Henry Newman Catholic Primary School in Peterborough has recently opened its first phase, providing places for key stage one pupils. This is the local Council’s first scheme commissioned using modern methods of construction. Delivering pre-planning advice and FRA at the outset of the scheme, we supported timber manufacturing firm, Eco Modular Building and Rider Levett Bucknall, working collaboratively with Peterborough City Council, the Diocese of East Anglia and the Department for Education.
St John Henry Newman Catholic Primary School, Peterborough
Working with the key players in the education sector
Clancy Chief Executive, Martyn Headley comments, “Our client base is wide-ranging, from tier-one contractors to industry-leading timber frame providers, architects and project managers to local authorities and the education establishments themselves, with many of these appointments being secured via the Department for Education’s frameworks.
“Developing strong relationships is fundamental to long-term success and, as a testament to this, we’re thrilled to have recently secured appointments with Conlon Construction with whom we have delivered many education schemes across the North West over the years.”
Appointments range from pre-planning advice and geoenvironmental services to civil, structural and building services design engineering and specialist timber frame design, and we’re engaged on many schemes delivering a full multi-discipline suite of services.
We’re also engaged with some of the country’s leading MMC specialists such as Innovare Systems, designing their hybrid structural timber frames and other manufactured off-site components.
Referring to the Thames Park School project, Gareth Ellison, Director at Innovare Systems comments, “Our team has worked closely with Clancy to make the benefits of the Innovare i-FAST offsite system a reality at the school, providing a great learning environment and experience for students and staff.”
Modular is becoming a preferred construction option for new learning environments
Martyn adds, “We are definitely seeing an increase in the uptake of MMC for schools, up and down the country.
“Timber frame design has been identified as an effective solution for building schools for some time, with the speed of construction and the lack of disruption to the school and their communities being key factors, whilst ticking the boxes of the Government’s green agenda and our own carbon reduction commitment.
“West Coventry Academy is one of many such schemes currently in progress. This £38.4million transformation of the site in the West Midlands features several modular constructed buildings that have been designed to be incredibly energy efficient, and will also serve the local community.”
West Coventry Academy, Coventry (Image credit: Stride Treglown)