THOMAS HICKMAN NURSERY SCHOOL

New single storey building for the Early Years class, car park extension and play area.

The project was for the construction of a new single storey standalone nursery building for Early Years, together with the extension of the existing school car park and external play area. Pre-Construction included time spent with our ‘build in a day’ process running through the designs from architect, engineers and M&E prospective to establish key details and ensure long lead items were identified and procured very early in the process.

This allowed windows, steel frame and engineered trusses, heat pumps and light fittings etc to be ordered and delivered to meet the demanding programme. We also spent time at the school fully understanding the way they worked and their challenges so we could work together as one team.

Undertaking the role as Principal Contractor, we procured and managed the supply chain, whilst working very closely with the head teacher and her school staff.  The team managed the daily front line supervision of subcontractors ensuring that they worked efficiently, safely and to schedule. We worked in a live environment and during the time of the pandemic complying with the Covid-19 restrictions set down by Government.

The works involved bulk earth movement and ground remodelling to allow the construction of the new building with a steel frame and cavity blockwork.  The roof was constructed with engineered timber rafters covered with slate and infilled with insulation. The external walls finished with white through colour rendered walls.  The floor was constructed with beam and block flooring along with underfloor heating and sand cement screed. The existing school car park was almost doubled in size and a new soft play area was constructed with permeable paving.

The new nursery building was located within the grounds of an existing primary school and within a very busy residential area of Aylesbury. We therefore had to ensure the protection of primary school pupils, parents, staff and local residents, this meant we engaged on a daily basis with the school to ensure they were aware of what works were taking place.  We also participated in parents’ meetings and local residents were sent regular update letters to ensure communication was excellent throughout.

The project was part of the Considerate Contractors Scheme and we were delighted to achieve an assessment of ‘Performance Beyond Compliance’.

We are always keen to add any extra touches to leave a project with the Alcema legacy of going over and above expectations. We have no doubt this has not only led to fantastic relationships with clients but also to further projects with these.

With this project we assisted the teachers with creation of the school nativity display and also with other minor repair works within the school to help the caretaker on overdue maintenance items.

The project was completed to programme largely owing to the excellent communications in place throughout. We were continually in contact with the school / end users from inception to completion, ensuring the project was completed in line with expectations as well as with Government Soft Landings (GSL).

Further to this our production team maintained communications with the school for 12 months post handover and periodically thereafter. Once the welfare facilities were removed we remained onsite for a further 3 weeks after PC to ensure the building functioned to GSL/ handover expectations.