Off-site construction specialist, Yorkon, part of the Portakabin Group, has been awarded contracts in the education sector worth in excess of £12m to help meet the national shortage of school places.
A National Audit Office report has warned that 250,000 extra school places will be needed in England by 2014 to meet demand following the dramatic rise in birth rates. Inner London is one of the most acute areas and to help resolve the issue, Yorkon has been working with Enfield Council and Barking & Dagenham Council, using off-site construction to speed up the build process and respond to the urgent need for additional teaching facilities.
By moving as much of the building work off site as possible, programme times are reduced by around 50%, site safety is improved and there is much less disruption to teaching.
The latest series of contracts awarded to Yorkon includes a new agreement with Enfield Council to expand capacity at seven schools in the first phase. Working in partnership with Cornerstone Property Assets and contractors Kier Construction and Wilmott Dixon, £6m of orders have already been placed with Yorkon under this agreement including:
• A two-storey building at Worcesters Primary School providing a library, ICT suite, group rooms, four large classrooms and staff facilities.
• A 40-module scheme at Chesterfield School, integrating workshops with classrooms. The two-storey building will be fully clad to complement other buildings on the school site and will incorporate a terraced outdoor classroom on the upper floor.
• A single storey building accommodating nine new general classrooms, reception classrooms and a nursery at Highfield Primary School.
• Pupils at Edmonton School will benefit from a three-storey scheme which will be used for primary school accommodation on the ground floor with classrooms and science laboratories on the upper floors for the secondary school.
• An extension to the George Spicer School campus, comprising 12 classrooms in two wings linked by a hall area, and including covered and open play areas, community rooms, staff facilities and a catering kitchen.
Following completion of a new teaching block at Trinity School – a special school in Dagenham – Barking & Dagenham Council is also working with Yorkon to deliver a number of new projects. The largest is a £4.5m contract at City Farm School.
The first phase of this project is to construct a three-form entry primary school, which will initially be adopted as a secondary school for two years, accommodating 360 pupils. Phase two will convert the building for primary children and provide additional play areas, landscaping, car parking, a multi-use games area and flood-lit football pitch. The final phase will double the size of the building in preparation for a five-form entry primary school.
Yorkon will also build a two-storey sixth form centre at Woodbrook Vale High School in Loughborough, which will free up classroom space elsewhere in the school and facilitate its expansion to include years 10 and 11. This scheme will be finished in brickwork and red render and completed to a tight programme of just 16 weeks. It is the fourth academy project Yorkon has been awarded in the Midlands.
Yorkon has an extensive track record in the primary and secondary education sectors, having completed a wide variety of bespoke projects constructed off site, including self-contained teaching buildings, classroom extensions and complete schools, delivering all the speed, quality, sustainability and efficiency benefits of off-site construction.
For further information, call 0845 2000 123, email [email protected] or visit www.yorkon.co.uk
