Loddiswell Primary School
Loddiswell, Devon
Project Details
Client
Devon County Council
Project Manager
NPS South West Limited
Architect
NPS South West Limited
Contractor
Midas Construction Ltd
Value £2.4m
Contract Period
37 weeks
Procurement Type
Competitive tender – 2 stage
Form of Contract
NEC3 Option A
Size 890m²
Apprentices
3
Project summary
Situated in rural village surroundings, Loddiswell Primary School provides a welcoming and inclusive learning environment. The school is a 150-place, one form-entry single storey building with capacity to expand as the school grows. The school provides four classrooms, complete with interactive whiteboards and modern ICT equipment, a library, school hall and extensive outside space including a multi-use games area and playgrounds.
The building is timber frame with Structural Insulated Panels with a sectional roof, supported by glulam beams. The finished building features a 14kw PV array, larch weatherboarding and rubble stone walling, with an access road and car parking.Externally, Midas completed landscaping works and created a swale planted with wetland wildflowers as part of the Sustainable Urban Drainage Strategy, to help manage drainage, prevent flooding or run off, increase biodiversity and provide a source of natural interest for the pupils.The project scored 88% in the customer satisfaction survey at practical completion and received a CCS 2019 Bronze National Site Award.
“Our aim is to provide the best possible learning environment for all of the children in a caring supportive atmosphere.”
Community Engagement
Career Opportunities
- Three apprenticeships provided through the project
Key Challenges
The village of Loddiswell is off the gas grid, meaning the building could not benefit from low carbon gas grids and hydrogen solutions, and had no direct access to the cheapest heating options
To address the power supply Midas installed air-source heat pumps, with a 14kw PV array on the roof. The building includes wind-catchers to increase natural ventilation, designed through the Building Physics strategy to meet requirements for natural ventilation, solar shading and natural daylight.
The building needed to be made watertight as early in the programme as possible, to ensure the client-design timber frame retained its integrity
Midas implemented Structural Insulated Panel (SIPS) construction. This off site construction method is then fitted at the premises, enabling the team to make the building watertight sooner and resulting in a positive impact on the programme whilst also reducing waste, noise, dust and air pollution on site.
The site was in proximity to new houses, with a large population of children, with access only available via narrow roads through the existing housing estate
To manage the constrained access Midas restricted delivery vehicle size and scheduled deliveries to avoid rush hour and early mornings, directing site traffic to circumvent the village, and closely managed vehicle movements and timing to avoid disruption. The team reduced site movements by completing a cut and fill exercise, retaining 1,100m³ of excavated materials for the sports pitch and landscaping. The site team monitored the cleanliness of the access road, preempting the need for a road sweeper where necessary, and formed a tarmac car park within the site at the start of the project. Contractors used on-site parking to keep the residential roads clear and the vehicle controller monitored contractor parking to mitigate disturbance to the neighbours.
