13 July 2015
Portakabin Group Helps to Meet Increase in Demand for School Places in London
The Portakabin Group has been awarded its sixth contract for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Council.
Working as principal contractor for delivery partner Thames Partnership for Learning, the Portakabin Group is now constructing the second phase of a primary school facility in a new £5.3 million contract.
Barking and Dagenham has one of the fastest-growing school-age populations in the UK and this latest project will help to address the increasing pressure on education provision in the area. It has been predicted that in the region of 8,000 new primary and secondary school places will need to be provided in the Borough over the next five years.
Designed by Surface to Air Architects, the new scheme will expand the current facility by accommodating around 100 additional primary, secondary and special needs children. Initially both buildings will be used by a secondary free school before being converted into a 5FE (five form entry) primary school on the City Farm Schools campus.
A Yorkon off-site solution is being used to deliver the building to a tight cost plan and a challenging programme in time for the start of the new academic year. This approach will reduce time on site to just six months, is ensuring much less disruption to teaching during construction despite the site constraints, and will give the local authority greater certainty of delivery on time and on budget.
According to Simon Ambler, Director of the Portakabin Group, "By using a Yorkon off-site solution for this project, the building will be delivered more efficiently, to a shorter timescale ready for the new academic year and to the required quality standards, enabling the local authority to respond to the fast-changing pattern of education demand in the Borough."
The Yorkon approach is sufficiently flexible to allow both phases of this project to be used initially for secondary education provision, before being easily reconfigured to meet the needs of a 5FE primary school.
The Portakabin Group's contract includes a full turn-key service, comprising design, planning, off-site building manufacture, ground works, fitting out, and provision of a multi-use games area, football pitch, and additional play areas. A multi-purpose hall will also be constructed as part of the package and will link the new building to the first phase.
The building will benefit from a pre-installed Yorkon concrete floor which minimises work on site and will provide enhanced acoustics and a high quality, robust finish for a demanding school environment. The scheme will be finished in an abstract arrangement of colours from a palette of blue, anthracite grey, earthy golden and metal green to give it a strong identity and to complement the earlier project.
Facilities in the new two-storey building will include 16 classrooms, library and ICT suite, two specialist teaching rooms, dining room, new school entrance and reception lobby, and a PE store room.
For further information about Yorkon off-site building solutions for primary and secondary education, call 0845 2000 123, email info@yorkon.co.uk or visit www.yorkon.info.
Editor's Notes
1. The image is of Riverside School phase one - © Morley von Sternberg.
2. The benefits of Yorkon school building solutions from the Portakabin Group include:
- Programme times reduced by up to 50 per cent for earlier occupation to help in the rapid expansion of schools, particularly when moving to two or more forms of entry
- Much less disruption to teaching during construction, which is critical when working on fully operational school sites
- Columns that are no longer visible either internally or externally, for seamless façades that can be specified with or without cladding to complement or contrast with existing school buildings
- The facility to fit almost any building footprint, including those designed for site-based construction - reducing design time and resources.
3. Yorkon and the Portakabin Group are registered trademarks. Portakabin is a registered trademark which must only be used to refer to modular buildings that are known to have been manufactured by the Portakabin Group. Please note, Portakabin is not a generic term.
