Coed Eva Primary School

In order to make the school more user-friendly, all the services for the new teaching were fed through the existing school. These works were carried out over the summer holidays and involved a full strip out of the ceilings to remove asbestos. A new bulkhead was incorporated where there was insufficient room for the services in the ceiling void.

Also during the summer holidays new external services were installed. This was a challenge as it was 2.5m deep between two structures and there was unknown asbestos found in the ground. Nevertheless we got the school back to a safe standard before the school returned.

There was a significant level change across the site which required us to carry out a cut and fill exercise. The resulting large amount of soil had the potential to impact negatively on both the environment and client’s budget. To mitigate the negative impact, we developed innovative methods to reuse waste materials on site, levelling out the existing playing field ensuring a reduction in carbon emissions, whilst also improving the usability and adaptability of the playing field. This resulted in a saving of circa £60k. We also re-sequenced work to accommodate this, extended our site boundary, and adjusted our site to incorporate and allow access to the playing field.

• Project completed on time and on budget
• Considerate Constructors Scheme Silver award.
• 43/50 Considerate Constructors Scheme
• Over 65% of orders placed in the local community (by value and number)
• 93% waste recycling achieved
• Weekly site environmental inspections carried out
• Extensive value engineering carried out to ensure project remained affordable – reused spoil from site to improve usability of the school’s adjacent playing field. This saved circa £60k in off-site disposal costs
• Working collaboratively with the client and design team, we changed the canopy from glass to polycarbonate, saving circa £24,000
• We utilised the existing slab present from the former infant school which had been subject to an arson attack in January 2016 when constructing the new car park. This saved time on the programme as well as cost to the client and the associated noise, dust and vibration for the neighbouring properties
• Our project team carried out litter picks around the site
• We held craft sessions with the school, which included making hedgehog boxes
• We utilised GADOYT to clear vegetation
• We held two site safety presentations for the school, which included safety poster competitions
• Circa 500 people from the school and community visited site