School assembly with a difference

A Longsight school will make history when it becomes the first British primary school to be built with an innovative timber panel system.

The new building style will save £100,000 as well as reduce construction time.

Construction company Willmott Dixon has begun work on the new building for St Agnes C of E Primary school in Longsight, which will be built on Hamilton Road, on the site of the old school, using Eurban solid timber panels instead of concrete and steel.

The timber for the £6.2m building will be sourced from sustainably managed forests and will be shipped to Manchester from Switzerland where it will take just 46 weeks to complete compared to the more usual style of school construction which would take 52 weeks.

The new three storey building, will house 270 primary aged pupils and a further 90 pre-school children and will feature a roof top playground and nine classrooms.

John Lorimer, Capital Programme Director for Manchester City Council says: " We're very excited about this ground breaking approach to construction. St Agnes will make history by being the UK's first primary school to be built using timber panel construction. The system offers good value for money and will speed up the build process considerably, reducing disruption to both the school and local community."

The pioneering construction style school will consist of 600 wooden panels with the largest measuring 12 metres and weighing two tonnes. Upon arrival at site, the panels are lifted into position by crane and connected together to form the structure.

All that is then required is to fit cladding and install services such as plumbing and IT.

Made from cross laminated layers of timber, the panels replace the need for the traditional steel and concrete structure improving the environmental performance and carbon footprint of the building.

Andy Smith, senior building manager with Willmott Dixon says: "Everything is modelled by computers, fabricated offsite to very high tolerances and therefore the erection on site is fast and efficient. The beauty of this approach is that the delivery of the new school is cost effective and has a quicker construction period with an improved environmental performance.

"It really should become more common for big buildings to be constructed this way, especially given the benefits in terms of cost and the environment."

Pupils and teachers at St Agnes C of E school are currently having lessons in temporary accommodation and are expected to move into their new building in March of next year.

For more information visit http://www.eurban.co.uk/

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