Terrapin buildings for new community facilities

East Sussex County Council has selected offsite construction company Terrapin to provide buildings for valuable new community facilities.

Timber framed, panel based permanent buildings for three new children's centres in the county were manufactured by Terrapin in its Milton Keynes factory and delivered to the sites ready for erection.

The new centres are located on the sites of existing primary schools in St Leonards-on-Sea, Polegate and Eastbourne.

Each one comprises a multi-function main room that can be divided using a movable wall, as well as a kitchen, toilets and an office/consulting room.

Children's centres offer a range of services, information and support in their local community for all families with children under five.

These include information about child health, advice during pregnancy and in the post-natal period, parenting support, life skills training and help with finding specialist groups.

The plan is that by 2010 every community in East Sussex will have access to a Children's Centre.

To provide a centre in every community within a finite budget, the council worked with Terrapin to create a repeatable solution which could be adjusted to suit the size of the community and the need for services in that area.

Using a 'bespoke' offsite approach Terrapin was able to provide a flexible solution that allowed the buildings to be tailored to the needs of the individual sites.

The Silverdale Children's Centre, in St Leonards-on-Sea is an 11m by 14m brick clad structure with a flat roof.

The West Rise Children's Centre in Eastbourne is a larger 22m by 13m flat roofed structure which incorporates a 30-place nursery and, while the Polegate Children's Centre is a 25m by 15m building, again brick clad, but this time with a pitched roof.

Terry Brown, Senior Projects Officer for East Sussex County Council said that Terrapin has provided similar buildings in the past and that he was keen to use them again.

So he was particularly pleased when the contract was put out to competitive tender and Terrapin was a clear winner in terms of specification, value and service.

Andy Baker, Terrapin Project Manager says, "Building offsite under controlled conditions allowed the highest levels of build quality and fit out to be achieved within a short lead time".

"The modular approach also means that the buildings can be reconfigured if future needs change".

Terrapin is a privately owned company which has been expanding and promoting the potential of modern methods of offsite construction since the 1940s.

It grew with the development of modular classroom buildings throughout the baby boom and is now a leader in factory assembled building frames, panels and volumetric modules for projects such as hotels, prisons, hospitals, schools and apartments.

Terrapin is the first company to be accredited under Buildoffsite's new supplier registration scheme operated by Lloyd's Register.

The scheme standardises all aspects of the offsite process and ensures best practice, offering clients confidence in the assured levels of competence, methodology and safe working of the accredited supplier.

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