Yorkon News Archives

23/03/2004 – Yorkon hands over first complete school to be built off-site

Modular building specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has handed over a new £5m primary school, which is believed to be the UK's first complete school to be built off-site. The project is also the first to be funded through an operating lease.

The contract at Our Lady of Lourdes School in East Kilbride for South Lanarkshire Council included the design, construction and fitting out of a 16-classroom building alongside the existing school, which has been demolished and replaced with landscaping and an all-weather floodlit sports pitch. The new 500-pupil school and nursery was ready for occupation just eight months after start on site.

Commenting on this pioneering project, Donald Thomas, Head of Finance for Education Resources at South Lanarkshire Council said, "We recognise that good schools need good buildings, and the importance of providing teaching environments that motivate and inspire children to learn. Because of the poor state of the existing 1960s school, it was essential for us to find a quick solution that would provide the local community with a complete new school."

"Modular construction enabled us to have a state-of-the-art 500-pupil facility in half the time of traditional site-based building methods and with no compromise on quality. I am pleased to report that the project has been delivered on time and on budget."

He added, "The building could also be leased if built using modular construction, allowing us to take advantage of funding from other sources. This was a major advantage, given our limited capital resources."

Headteacher Paul McGarry said, "We are absolutely delighted with our new school. I am amazed how little disturbance there was during construction, given the site was so close to the existing school. We had no interruptions to teaching and are very impressed with just how efficient this system is."

"Yorkon's service has also been fantastic. Their team was dedicated, obliging, friendly and considerate about the needs of the school at every stage. They helped the school and the children whenever they could, were highly organised and quite simply a pleasure to work with. We are very impressed – the service has been first class."

Features of the school include a full height glazed entrance, a pre-school nursery, main hall and dining room, library, extensive landscaping and soft play areas.

Operating lease finance has been introduced by Yorkon for the funding of school facilities built using off-site construction. This innovative solution is a much faster and simpler alternative to the Private Finance Initiative. It has significantly lower set up costs compared to PFI and is not treated as an increase in borrowing under the Local Authorities Capital Finance Regulations.

Editor's Notes

1. The new Our Lady of Lourdes school was constructed from 84 steel-framed modules, up to 14m long and weighing up to 8.5 tonnes. These were manufactured off-site at Yorkon's production centre in York, whilst the foundation works were completed on site. The modules were delivered to site by road where they were craned into position in just two weeks ready for fitting out.

2. The school comprises:

16 classrooms including an IT suite
Library
A multi-purpose hall with stage and specialist lighting, a county-standard badminton court and facilities for five-a-side football, volley ball, basketball and netball
Parking for around 50 cars
A nursery with a large play area that can be subdivided into two individual playrooms, plus staff room, office, cloakrooms and infants' toilets.

3. The two-storey building has pitched roofs above the main entrance and the main hall. The exterior is finished in two shades of blue with co-ordinating blue windows and doors.

4. Yorkon's award-winning modular building system is an efficient alternative to traditional site-based construction, which saves time, guarantees quality and minimises disruption to teaching.