Sir Harry Smith Community College, Whittlesey - New 6th Form / Community Centre Building
Sir Harry Smith is a Comprehensive Community College providing education for girls and boys from 11-18 years. They currently have over 1,000 students on teh register and are an expanding school. The College is also part of the Cambridgeshire 'Building Schools for the Future' programme, which aims to transform the buildings and the learning at the College over the next five years through a multimillion pound investment.
Project Description:
The single storey building was to provide a study/communal area for the increasing number of students in the sixth form and also offer an out-of-hours community facility. The new building needed to connect to the main school building, while providing an independent entrance for the community.
The building includes kitchen, office and IT facilities. Special features include an external link corridor to the adjacent building and Metsec Trusses to the Community Room. The structure had to compliment the adjacent school buildings and surroundings.
We carried out a value engineering exercise between the Tender and Contract Sums. Items included; change in specification to roof timbers, internal doors, external benches and a reduction in mechanical costs, which generated a total saving of just over £14K.
The construction work started on site in June 2008 with completion in February 2009. The New Community Centre was officially opened in May 2009.
Key Challenges:
- There were a number of site constraints within the proposed location, including existing buildings and underground services in the vicinity.
- Works were carried out within a live working environment which placed an increased emphasis on Health and Safety.
Form of Contract: JCT 2005 Intermediate Form
