Fairview PRU was constructed on an existing education site in Basildon, replacing an old, small, and outdated building facility. The centre is occupied by the Children’s Support Service, (CSS) and the new two-storey facility provides state of the art spaces enabling high quality education for Key Stage 3 and 4 pupils, who can no longer be taught in a mainstream educational setting.
Existing site constraints including the restricted access, existing structure and piled foundations, and requirement to comply with the Gatwick 2050 weather file for the first time, were all contributing factors into the planning and design stages of the project. Notably, the old, demolished building’s piles had to remain in place so as a result, we ran clash detection to enable design of 259, 350mm CFA piles, and installed them all without striking an existing pile.
The end user’s needs also had to be considered in that selected materials needed to be durable and robust, for example, we selected double glazed window units with extra impact resisting properties to prevent breakage.
It is testament to the design team that all constraints were successfully considered, coordinated and overcome-the resultant effort clearly shows in in the end product; a modern, effective and comfortable facility that enables high quality teaching for disadvantaged students. We believe this teamwork and execution makes the project deserving of Building Project of the Year.
Three Winning Facts:
- We successfully installed 259 350mm diameter CFA piles, without clashing with any redundant existing piles.
- The project was our first scheme with the requirement to design to the Gatwick 2050 Weather File.
- We reduced overall site waste by recycling demolition waste material from the old school, crushing it and reusing it as hardcore fill.
