Modular specialist McAvoy has been awarded the £8.2m contract for the design and offsite construction of a new primary school for Concordia Academy in Romford, Essex.
The 2,972 sq m three-form entry free school will provide 630 places for local children.
McAvoy said its offsite solution is allowing the development of a constrained brownfield site, with the new building only 1.5m from the site boundary on the front elevation. Modular construction will cut the build programme to 12 months while reducing disruption to the surrounding residential area.
The first of 67 modules will arrive on site in the autumn. McAvoy has also provided a suite of interim school buildings for the academy, until the new school opens in September 2018.
Designed by Blue Sky Architects, the Concordia scheme will occupy the site of a disused nurses’ home. The curriculum areas will be organised in clusters of three for each year group, and with a linear band of classrooms either side of a central corridor.
The teaching spaces are designed to be flexible, allowing adaptation to support future modes of curriculum delivery or advances in technology.
Facilities will include a music and drama studio, main hall with adjacent smaller hall, 14 classrooms, full catering kitchen, activity room, small group learning rooms, staff room and administration offices.
The design maximises the external play space within the site and the landscaping will create a hard surfaced games area, outdoor learning area with tensile fabric canopy to provide a shaded area, a garden space, a secure reception play area along the southern elevation, and a natural habitat ecology zone.
The contemporary design features bold geometric shapes and materials including red brick, timber-effect cladding, render and high levels of glazing. There are brick and rendered bays to the curriculum wing, with full height glazing to the recessed areas which allow light into the break-out and circulation spaces.
Funded by the Department for Education, via the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the school will be operated by REAch2 Academy Trust, the largest primary only academy trust in the UK.
Raymond Millar, construction director of principal contractor McAvoy, said: “Offsite construction offers clear benefits for the delivery of new education facilities. On this project, the solution from McAvoy is enabling the development of a very restricted and challenging brownfield site, and with much less disruption to the local community.
“It offers the opportunity for increased value for money, greater quality control and programme benefits because the construction work can progress offsite in the factory while groundworks are put in place on site. Speed of construction is key when the demand for school places continues to rise.”
