Terrapin fast track solution for space in school

Terrapin fast track solution for Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School in Barnet uses the latest 'flat pack' offsite construction techniques for rapid, high quality building with minimum disruption.

The additional 370m2 of space over two floors will be used for new Personal Health, Social and Citizenship Education classes, sixth form Social Science subjects and the Inclusion/SEN department.

The school has recently developed a partnership with a school in the Eastern Cape, South Africa and it has been decided to name the building 'The Lindani Building' to celebrate and raise the profile of this Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School is a community comprehensive for 11 to 18 year old girls with two appearances on Ofsted's list of 'Outstandingly Successful Schools'.

The new Terrapin classroom block is being built on a disused basketball court alongside the existing sports hall.

In addition to providing a fast, accurate and affordable solution, Terrapin's 'flat pack' building system addresses the problem of restricted site access via a narrow lane.

Panelised units were fabricated in Terrapin's factory whilst groundworks were completed and delivered with minimal vehicle and crane movements.

Assembly on site is scheduled to take about a week and Terrapin's team will then complete exterior finishing and interior fit-out.

Project Architect, Alan Graham of Alan Graham Associates, is overseeing the design and construction of the new Terrapin building on behalf of the London Borough of Barnet Council and the School.

He comments: "Terrapin has such expertise in classroom packages, they've thought of everything offsite, which means that on site works are greatly reduced".

"That's a major benefit in terms of health and safety for children and staff, and disruption to school activities is kept to a minimum".

The two-storey Terrapin building planned for Queen Elizabeth's Girls' School will consist of six classrooms ranging in size from 28m2 to 59m2, a staff room, office, storerooms and entrance lobby with a ramped approach and overhead canopy.

The building structure is designed in accordance with BS6399 Part 2 1997 relating to wind loading, and insulation to walls, floors and roof complies with heat loss requirements under Part L of the Building Regulations.

The flat-roofed building will be clad in low maintenance Stenni aggregate panels and have double glazed aluminium windows in a durable white powder coated finish.

Internal partitioning is specified to provide 60 minute fire resistance and sound insulation up to 56dB.

The internal specification includes carpet tiles in classrooms, barrier matting in the entrance lobby and roller blinds to all windows.

The classroom package is just one of the fast and flexible offsite construction solutions offered by Terrapin for permanent and temporary building requirements in the public and private sectors.

Terrapin's proven technology offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional building techniques, plus the quality assurance of factory built structures and the benefits of less disruption, fewer deliveries, reduced noise, waste and lower risk of Terrapin is a privately owned company and is one of the UK's leaders in offsite construction.

It has been expanding the potential of Modern Methods of Construction since 1949 and now offers a range of complementary MMC technologies that can be used individually or combined to create bespoke building solutions for every application; panel based technology, volumetric design technology and steel framed, element build 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 client's confidence in the assured levels of competence, methodology and safe working of the accredited supplier.

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