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12/06/2007 – Yorkon Wins £2.5m School Building Contract

 

Award-winning off-site construction specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has won a £2.5m contract for Worcestershire County Council to build new teaching facilities at Bewdley High School.

The scheme is believed to be the first modular building to be heated using wood fuel, minimising any impact on the environment.

The two-storey school building is being manufactured off site in York, reducing the programme time and guaranteeing completion for the start of the new academic year in September. The project is part of a major reorganisation of education provision in Worcestershire, which will result in an additional 360 pupils joining Bewdley School from the autumn.

The new self-contained teaching block will provide 12 general classrooms, two science laboratories, a drama and activity studio, and office accommodation. Design features include central heating powered by an environmentally friendly ‘Biomass’ boiler, passive ventilation to provide fresh air throughout, timber cladding from sustainable sources, a highly glazed activity studio flooded with natural light and a striking bespoke roof structure.

Commenting on the project, Dermot Galvin, Project Architect at Worcestershire County Council, said, "The primary driver for the decision to use off-site construction for this project was time. The Yorkon approach will allow the new facility to be ready in time to take the extra pupils from this September."

"Yorkon offers a superior quality building system and has a keen interest in design quality, bringing skills to the project that are not always associated with modular construction. Their team are adding value to the scheme and have the flexibility to meet our specific requirements, which include a number of bespoke elements."

The building will be manufactured using the Yorkon steel-framed modular building system, which allows clear internal spans of up to 12m and reduces time on site by up to 50 per cent. 60 modules will be craned into position over seven days, complete with doors, windows, electrics and partitions pre-installed in the factory.

This is a highly sustainable method of construction which reduces carbon emissions, vehicle movements to site and materials wastage, and significantly improves energy efficiency.

Yorkon recently won the award for Innovator of the Year at the Specialist Contractor Awards.

Editor’s Notes

1. Yorkon has an extensive track record in the education sector, having completed a wide variety of projects ranging from self-contained teaching blocks and classroom extensions for both primary and secondary schools, to nursery buildings, a purpose-designed adult education centre, and the UK’s first complete school to be built off site.
2. Yorkon, as part of the Portakabin Group, is also the first modular manufacturer to commit to meeting the challenges set out in the Sustainability Charter introduced by the Major Contractors Group.

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