Ashcombe Primary School – Extension and Sports Hall

John Perkins Construction (JPC) completed the design and construction of both a new building extension and sports hall at Ashcombe Primary School in Weston-Super-Mare over the course of 59 weeks.

The creation of this space provides the school with a brand-new reception, extra classrooms and bathrooms, as well as administrative space for teachers. Further to this the extension includes a new sports hall facility for pupils to enjoy.

JPC first completed the demolition and clearance of two existing prefabricated buildings that were many years past their design life, creating the space needed for the new extension to be built. It was then necessary to reconfigure one of the existing school rooms to form a new fire escape, completing the enabling works.

We laid raft concrete foundations to support a composite timber and steel frame standing seam, which was erected by crane: It was then a case of making the structure watertight with roof coverings and cladding of different types. Internal works followed the familiar pattern of walling, insulation, first and second fix M&E throughout followed by finishing trades.

From a sustainability standpoint the building achieved an air tightness of 2.65 m3.h-1.m-2@50pa, improving on the target of 3 m3.h-1.m-2@50pa. The final stage of this project required us to resurface the playground at the rear of the school and create a new extended carpark with e-car charging points at the front. As a result of the thoughtful design and layout, with the inclusion of air source heat pumps and solar panels, the building scored a 7 on its Energy Performance Certificate rating it A. It is a point of pride that we were able to recycle 100% of our site waste by working closely with ETM, our waste handling partner.

This was a ‘live’ school environment throughout the duration of the works, with the exception of the school holidays and required heightened site sensitivity.

JPC put in place strict procedures for safeguarding the pupils from the offset. Ensuring that all site operatives and visitors had numbers emblazoned on their high vis waistcoats making them instantly recognisable.

Our considerate approach was extended beyond the school grounds to the wider community. The site team worked hard to avoid any disruption to the local residents by arranging deliveries at non disruptive times and keeping in touch with them via a regular newsletter. This site was also registered with the Considerate Constructors Scheme, and we are incredibly proud of our site visit score of 45/45, marking this site and its interaction with the community as Excellent.

As with all of our projects we endeavour to leave the communities that we work in better that when we arrived. During our time at Ashcombe Primary School we were able to do an assortment of activities that we hope went in some way to achieving that.

We hosted an assembly for the pupils, teaching them about the importance Health and Safety on a construction site, followed by an H&S poster competition, with the winning pupil’s artwork being displayed publicly on our hoardings, as well as a book token for those pupils.

The children were also invited on tours of the site with our Site Manager, Rich Mann, giving them the opportunity to see the construction up close and ask questions about the work that was being done at their school. Through a collaboration with Weston College, we also invited T-level students studying construction to tour the site throughout the durations of the project, providing them with an environment to see theory put into practice.

Working in partnership with our supply chain we were able to sponsor seven children, who would otherwise not been able to go on the trip, enabling them to attend their Y5 class trip, a week in Morfa Bay with their peers.  We were grateful for the support from our supply chain, and this is an example of how invested everyone working on this project was in the community and the sense of teamwork exhibited throughout the project.

This support continued when our team volunteered to redecorate the Weston Foodbank housed in the Hughenden Centre.  Providing local families with a clean and welcoming space.

Following delivery of the project children and staff were welcomed back into their new environment for the start of their Autumn term ready to enjoy the space tailor made for learning.