Back to school for Pick Everard engineers

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Feb 8, 2006

Pick Everard engineers have been commissioned for further work following the successful completion of Phase 1 at Hazeley School, Milton Keynes.

Pick Everard engineers have been commissioned for further work following the successful completion of Phase 1 at Hazeley School, a £10million comprehensive secondary school being created by Milton Keynes Council which opened its doors to pupils for the first time last September.

In the £5million second phase, Pick Everard is designing a two-storey classroom block which will be completed for the beginning of the new school year in September 2007 with construction due to start this May.

Pick Everard played a major part in creating Phase 1 of the brand new school after being appointed as civil and structural engineers in 2004.

Building work in Phase 1 was carried out by contractor Shepherd Construction, of Northampton.

The 6000m2 state-of-the-art school will ultimately cater for 1,500 11 to 18-year-old pupils and will consist of a sports hall, teaching wing, library and ancillary areas, music 'pods', canteen and changing rooms which will be handed over in three phases.

Hazeley head teacher Iain Denning, in his monthly e-diary which he kept until September 2005 as the new school developed, said: "We are passionate about treating pupils as individuals, as human beings".

"This is reflected in providing pupils with lockers, with safe places to leave cycles, with high-quality dining facilities and comfortable classrooms - in short with an environment fit for learning in the 21st Century." Pick Everard associate Graeme Milligan said: "We are delighted to be working on Phase 2 of this project".

"The first phase was challenging because of the complexity of the design with its curves, cantilevers, finishes, brickwork and cladding but the result is a colourful, modern school which is very pleasing".

"An intense project like this requires good co-ordination between contractor, client and ourselves, and we feel the result is a testament to this." Pick Everard specialises in the educational sector and is a design partner in the VINCI Consortium, one of the three teams selected to go the next stage of bidding for Leicester's 'Building Schools for The Future' programme.