£3m school facility, Cheltenham

Based in Cheltenham, Dean Close Foundation runs a co-educational day and boarding private school. They required a Day House Village to provide day pupils with the opportunity to have a base, outside of the classroom, to study and form firm friendships.

The project comprised of four new build day houses for Dean Close school, each with study areas, kitchen, bathroom and living areas. The internal finishes were designed to have a homely feel and had extensive MEP elements to ensure adequate ventilation, lighting and IT to meet with the current and future demands of the school. The main structure for the day houses comprised of a steel frame and masonry infill. The facades were finished with facing brickwork and cedar cladding to give a traditional look. The externals were landscaped with a mixture of hard and soft features to give some welcoming outside spaces for the students and staff.

Delivered within a live school environment this project was constructed on the side of a live railway line, which involved careful liaison and a watching brief with Network Rail. Due to the close proximity of the site to the railway embankment the ground solution was to drive piles with a reinforced concrete ring beam cast over

The school required us to co-ordinate our site deliveries to avoid key drop off and pick up times for the School as we shared the main access road throughout the contract. Extensive external works included the creation of a new courtyard area and modifications to public access routes to the swimming pool and theatre on site.

The project was delivered to an exceptional high quality and was received extremely well by the school.

Scope of works:

• Four new build Day Houses
• Delivered within a live school environment
• High quality finishes
• Constructed within close proximity to a live, busy railway line
• MEP elements installed to meet current and future demands of the school
• Homely internal finishes
• Traditional facades
• Modification to public access routes