Manor Park First School

Reorganising and extending the school to provide accommodation for 450 children.

The project and background

An appraisal of all Dorchester first schools by the former Dorset County Council considered how best to provide 225 additional pupil places needed across the town. As part of this, Manor Park First School was determined suitable to increase to 3 form entry (FE) capacity.

Manor Park First School currently operates as a 2.5FE first school. The appraisal concluded that the main hall is undersized, it is difficult for the school to organise five discreet year groups within the current structure, there is limited circulation around the school, many of the cloak areas are covered outdoor spaces and the overall teaching environment is in need of improvement.

The project at Manor Park First School will address the issues and allow the school to grow to 3FE having a total capacity of 450 pupils. The project provides:

• a six classbase extension
• an enlarged main hall with enlarged servery
• extensions to create enlarged class bases
• a substantial remodelling of existing internal layouts
• improvements to external hard and soft landscape
• improved pedestrian access to the front of the site.

The existing defective mobile classroom accommodation will also be removed.

The project started on site in July of 2014 and is due to be completed in phases; the new classrooms were completed in April of 2015, followed by phases of remodelling & refurbishment, with summer 2015 and winter 2015 completion dates.

The design

The six classbase single storey extension will be situated to the east of the main building complex facing the existing sports pitch. The roof is of a similar pitch to the existing buildings and incorporates a clerestory glazing element for increased natural daylight and ventilation.  The external walls are intended to blend in with the existing accommodation and a glazed link to the existing accommodation will be provided.

The design and access

The project aims to provide full accessibility to the existing site. This will be achieved by improving external levels and landscape together with improving the internal layout and existing door widths.

The design and sustainability

Sustainable design solutions include the provision of:

• high levels of insulation to new build extensions
• high efficiency, condensing, gas fired boilers
• efficient lighting together with controls for presence detection
• high levels of natural daylight and ventilation in the six classbase extension
• improved natural day light and ventilation in the existing accommodation by providing additional roof lights and replacement of many of the existing doors and windows

External works and landscape

External works and landscape improvements include:

• creating a new playground on an area currently occupied by mobile classrooms
• removing a limited number of trees and clearing areas of shrubs at the front of the school
• altering the path network to improve the safety of pedestrian routes
• creating a games court on part of the existing playground
• some shrub clearance and adjustment of ground levels to the north of the school to enable the addition of extensions to the existing building
• a new fence to complete the secure boundary to the site
• planting new trees and shrubs to mitigate the loss of trees and shrubs in other areas.

The design team and main constructor

The project at Manor Park First School is being procured and project managed Dorset Property.  The design team and main constructor are as follows:

• Client: The Asset Management Group for Cabinet, represented by the Director of Children's Services
• Project manager: Dorset Property
• Architect: Dorset Property
• Cost consultant: Dorset Property
• Mechanical engineer: Dorset Property
• Electrical engineer: Dorset Property
• Landscape architect: Dorset Property
• Structural engineer: Dorset Property
• CDM co-ordinator: Dorset Property
• Clerk of works: Dorset Property
• Main constructor: Morgan Sindall