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Sector: Education
Service: Project Management | Principal Designers

Building Success for Norton Fitzwarren

Norton Fitzwarren, a thriving village primary school in Somerset, needed to extend their built environment to expand their intake to meet local demand. The school also needed help with a CIF funding bid for additional new building work. As part of the Bath and Wells Multi Academy Trust, the school has been working with Hookway for many years and knew that we had the necessary skills and expertise to meet all of their needs for these projects.  

Phase one - two new classrooms

The school's existing buildings were extended by adding two new classrooms to accommodate the additional children. This project was funded by the government through the local authority and the MAT employed Hookway to manage the project on their behalf. 

Challenges

Work needed to be completed within a strict 24-week time frame, and it was of course critical that building works had minimum impact on the daily running of the school. Undertaking a construction project on a live school site, whilst trying to minimise disruption caused by large deliveries, noisy plant as well as the health and safety risks associated with a construction project is extremely difficult. Nonetheless utilising our extensive experience of working within a fully operational school site we managed to complete the project with minimal disruption to the school and with no accidents. This was achieved through regular communication with the school, scheduling deliveries outside of drop off and collection times and programming noisy and disruptive works such as digging of foundations and installation of roof trusses for outside of school operation time.

Result 

The two new single-storey classrooms meet all current building standards with an impetus on our commitment to sustainable construction under Part L of the building regulations. The classrooms are light and airy and will each easily accommodate a class of up to 30 children. The acoustic-softened suspended ceilings will be instrumental in reducing noise levels, helping create a calm and pleasant environment for the pupils.

In addition to the expected scheme, a new point of access was created to the rear of the school site for use during the building phase. This is an extremely useful asset for the school brought about by astute cost control of the project and meticulous negotiation of the final account, retaining the funds necessary for this additional expenditure. Phase one was completed on time and on budget in 2016.

The school is ‘over the moon’ with the work that has been done. Head Teacher Kirsti Nelson said, “We have just had two new classrooms constructed for our school and Hookway managed the whole project, which really took the pressure off me. They were brilliant, managing the contractors and making sure that we were all kept fully informed as the project progressed, with all updates given in a timely manner. Importantly, the needs of the school were always at heart and I felt that I had a voice in the process. The two new classrooms are fantastic. They are light, airy and spacious, and the children love them. The children refer to them as the ‘Posh Wing’.”    

Successful funding bid for phase two

Hookway was instrumental in acheiving a successful CIF Academy bid of over £500,000 to replace a modular classroom block that had come to the end of its useful life. This project is now in progress and is due for completion in April 2017. Hookway is managing the project including ensuring health and safety duties under the latest construction design and management regulations are met throughout.  

So, whether you need help with a CIF funding bid or managing a project, or if you are are unsure of your duties as a principal designer on a construction project, Hookway can help. For more information please call 0117 955 4545 or email  Jim Corrigan or Greg Smith

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Testimonial

“The whole project was entirely ‘self-sufficient’ as far as the school leaders were concerned, apart from pre-agreed meetings/decisions along the way, and the building was completed to a very high spec in a safe and efficient way. We would have no hesitation in recommending Hookway to other schools.”

“Tom Bishop led us through the two-year process with a calm and professional demeanour. His contribution to the project was central to the completion of the building on-time (during the pandemic) and the design outcomes have suited our teaching and performance needs completely. A highly successful design and architectural project.”

“The whole project has been a complete success from start to finish. Hookway and the builders (HBC) were a pleasure to deal with and the project management was highly professional.”