St Leonards Primary School
Value: £3.8M
Type: Remodelling and Refurbishment
Partner: G F Tomlinson
Remodelling and refurbishment of the former Kingston Education Centre to create a new home for St. Leonards Primary School in Stafford.
The school re-located from it’s existing Victorian premises to the new facility, which was previously used as a Covid-19 test centre up until September 2021.
In doing so, the school expanded from its current single form of entry to 1.5FE and accommodates 315 pupils and 26 Nursery places.
The new educational facility boasts modern facilities, extensive outdoor playing provision and the option to add further buildings in the future. Works comprised:
• Remodelling of existing spaces to provide suitable teaching classrooms and ancillary spaces
• Provision of a new catering kitchen
• Refurbishment of the existing car park to form new hard play area and a revised car parking layout for staff and visitors
• New MUGA Sports pitch
• New hard and soft play areas
• Upgrade and realignment of existing drainage
• Upgrade of all M&E services
• Replacement windows and doors
Works were split into four phases across the building to allow teams to work on different areas of the building. This was due to the vast amount of internal demolition that has been required.
The site is located in a busy residential area therefore, we maintained close liaison with local residents to ensure minimum disruption in the area. We produced monthly Newsletters and pre-informed residents of any major works to keep all stakeholders informed of the current and upcoming works.
All deliveries to site were pre-booked and arranged on a just-in-time basis to minimise waiting times, reduce the amount of materials stored on site and reduce the risk of damaged or spoiled materials.
Project highlights
- Over £100,000 of social value added
- 22 apprentice weeks provided
- 80 trees were planted by pupils which were donated by the Woodland Trust – enhancing the ecology of the site to attract insects and animals
- Bird and bat boxes were installed across the site, as well as bug hotels
- 99% of waste from the site was recycled
- 7 tonnes of waste re-used
- Installation of air source heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, hybrid heating/cooling air handling units and insulated thermal ceiling tiles to reduce the carbon footprint of the building
“To see the building already transforming into our new site was extremely exciting for both myself and the staff and of course the children. The increased outdoor and indoor space and modern facilities will support us in further developing high-quality and inspiring provision for all our school community. We are very grateful for the opportunity to extend and modernise our setting and are certain that this will only continue to ensure that we are a good school who provide the best for our children in all learning capacities. ”
Charlotte Cooke, Headteacher – St. Leonards Primary School