Rapidplan 3000 steel framed building system

Wernick Buildings eye-catching yet functional design gave Kirton in Lindsey Primary School the new buildings - all within budget - and factory construction meant far less disruption to school life.

"I distinctly remember that it was the day of the school's 2005 Christmas dinner that we had our hopes raised that we may actually get our new classrooms.

This was just three months after a Department for Education and Skills (DFES) bid had been turned down", recalled Sandie Hall, head teacher at Kirton in Lindsey Primary School, North Lincolnshire.

In 2005 Sandie had submitted a bid for funds to the DFES for four new classrooms for her expanding school.

With 222 pupils, outdated shabby teaching areas and the local population increasing, (not least because of families moving into a nearby military base), the accommodation problem for pupils and staff was becoming acute.

In 2003 a plan had been submitted to build new classrooms and demolish 4 substandard mobile classrooms, but the money could not be found at the time.

For the past 25 years several generations of the village's children have been taught in four huts in the school's grounds as the main building was not big enough, but after a very effective publicity campaign organized by indignant parents the education authority had agreed to the school's bid for funds.

The old huts were coming down at last! After hearing from teaching colleagues at other schools about the success of their new factory manufactured school buildings, the local authority and Sandie found themselves asking, "Would a modular building work here?" After visiting several sites including a secondary school's science laboratory built using the system she, the governors, the LEA and the Education Committee were able to say "Yes!", and a decision was made to recommend that Neath Abbey based Wernick Buildings should be appointed as the designers and builders.

Their eye-catching yet functional design gave the school not four classrooms but six, together with two smaller rooms, a dedicated First Aid room and pupil toilets - all within budget.

The brick and cedar clad exterior is capped off with a tile clad pitched roof that gives the building an attractive appearance and performance comparable with 'traditionally' built structures.

Yet all 22 factory built modules were delivered and craned into position in two days and fitting out of the 556 square metre building took just 14 weeks.

Factory construction caused far less disruption to school life than would have been the case with a traditionally built design and gave Sandie a high quality building quickly, with the bonus of reduced construction costs and 33% more teaching space than she had originally bid for.

"I hadn't realized how bad the old huts were", said one teacher who had taught in one for 12 years, "until we moved into the new building.

The contrast is amazing".

Wernick's Rapidplan 3000 steel framed building system uses a thermally efficient 100mm solid core sandwich construction.

The central corridor linking all the rooms at the Kirton in Lynsey project is illuminated by four 600 mm daylight transmitting 'Sunpipes'.

These, together with double glazed windows all help in keeping the building energy efficient.

Also factored into the design were ceiling mounted radiant central heating panels.

They are fed by concealed copper water pipes and offer considerable space saving at desk level, a cleaner room design, and an unobstructed run for computer trunking.

Noise transmittance from room to room and reverbration times and levels in individual rooms all come within the standards set down in Building Bulletin 93.

A fire sprinkler system is also incorporated into the design.

Some local authorities are still reluctant to specify modular construction methods for educational buildings, but said Sandie at the official opening ceremony, "This new building offers a superb climate for learning.

It is a delight to teach in and that is just what we requested in the design brief.".

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