Timber frame is a first for Manchester’s secondary schools

Building work has begun to build an extension to St Peter’s RC High School in Gorton - the first secondary school to use a timber frame design and only the second timber school building in Manchester.

The timber roof will be lowered into place next week (Thursday, July 15th) marking a construction milestone on site.

The £3.1m project will see a new 513 square metre environmentally friendly timber frame block built, with a grass covered roof. Part of the existing school building will also be refurbished.

The improvements, funded through the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF), will allow the 900-place Kirkmanshulme Lane school to extend its teaching provision, including new facilities for Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils and spaces for extended community use.

St Peter's will now be one of three Manchester high schools to have specialist resourced mainstream provision with places for up to 10 young people with a specific language impairment (SLI) and/or autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). It will also have up to five additional places for pupils with a physical disability.

St Peter's, a specialist college for business and enterprise, recently received an outstanding Ofsted inspection and encourages an inclusive education with pupils sharing lessons and facilities where appropriate.

The innovative timber panel design was chosen for the school because of its sustainability, ease and speed of construction. It will be shipped to Gorton from Switzerland and will take just three weeks to build.

Upon arrival at site, the 282 wooden panels, with the largest measuring 2.4 metres wide by 7.6 metres long and weighing 1.45 tonnes, will be lifted into position by crane and connected together to form the structure

The panels will be used instead of a traditional steel and concrete structure, improving the environmental performance and carbon footprint of the building.

The green roof is grown in Norfolk, and then harvested and transported to Manchester on the same day to ensure freshness. It is a soil-less, ultra light, slow growing grass that is low maintenance, acts as a waterproofing system and reduces energy use and CO2 emissions.

Headteacher, John McNerney, says: "We're all really excited about work starting at the school to provide some fabulous new facilities for both pupils and the community as a whole. We chose a timber frame for the new build as we have quite a small site and it is easier and quicker to build, minimising the disruption to the day to day running of the school."

The building work includes eight new classrooms, an office, IT room, a community room, a lift to improve disabled access and refurbishment of part of the main school building.

The bespoke amenities for SLI and ASD pupils will include teaching areas for small group work, a room for speech and language therapy, as well as facilities for staff development and training. There will also be a hygiene suite and a physiotherapy room.
 
In addition to improvements to the building, there will also be an additional investment of £1.4m in the school's ICT provision. This will enable pupils to work on the school's computer system from home and give parents better access to information about their child's progress.

A courtyard will be created between the new block and existing school and will contain a global signpost, reflecting the 50 plus nationalities that make up the school population.

Pupils took part in design workshops and created a mural to be displayed on a side elevation at the Pink Bank Lane entrance.

The investment at St Peter's is part of city-wide proposals to improve and transform education and learning for pupils with SEN by providing a continuum of provision which gives better choice and opportunity for young people, their parents and families.

Councillor Sheila Newman, Manchester City Council's Executive Member Children's Services, says: "The BSF programme is more than just bricks and mortar, it is about transforming the way education is delivered for the benefit of every student living in the city.

"St Peter's is already an innovative, inspirational learning environment and this recent investment will only add to the success of the school. I'm sure the improvements to the building will also be a source of pride and a practical resource for the community."

The contractors on the project are F Parkinson Ltd, the architects Ellis Williams Architects, the timber panels are from Eurban and the green roof is from Bauder.