Canmoor is delighted to welcome Agility Logistics, one of the world’s leading integrated logistics providers to Westway Park. Relocating to Renfrew from Linwood, Agility has agreed terms on 40,000 sq ft of warehousing and distribution space at Block D on a ten-year lease. The space will be used to service
Keepmoat Homes in partnership with South Liverpool Homes, Liverpool City Council and Homes England has been announced winner in the ‘Development of the Year’ category at the 2020 Liverpool City Region Property Awards. The development on Greenway Road, Speke secured the win in this category as a result of the
A MAJOR warehouse, that is similar to the size of Amazon’s site in Darlington, has been confirmed near Stockton. Plans have been submitted to Stockton Borough Council for a two million sq ft logistics and distribution centre to be built in Wynyard, near Stockton. The site, which is understood to
Investment in Coleshill office will support continued growth of regional business Leading interior design consultancy Office Principles is celebrating 18 months of growth by investing in a new regional headquarters in the West Midlands. The firm has signed a five-year lease on a standalone building at Coleshill Manor Office Campus
‘AI System for Predicting Embodied Carbon in Construction’ (ASPEC) Winvic Construction Ltd, a leading main contractor that specialises in the design and delivery of multi-sector construction and civil engineering projects, has once again secured Innovate UK funding as part of a cross-sector multidisciplinary research group. Winvic, University of the West
A collaboration between Together Housing and Kensa Contracting, resulting in sustainable ground source heat pumps being retrofitted into over 770 homes in the North of England, has won the ‘Heat Pump City of the Year’ category at the international European Heat Pump Awards (EHPA). The government recently set out aspirations
Stephen George + Partners (SGP) is pleased to announce the completion of a £7million, 54,000 sq ft hangar and associated 15,500 sq ft workshop at Norwich International Airport for Rigby Group plc, owners of Regional City Airports. Ian Yallop, Chairman of SGP says: “Despite these being incredibly difficult times for
Scotland’s largest construction trade association, SELECT, has welcomed a second consultation on regulation of the electrical industry which has been launched by the Scottish Government. The consultation, lodged by Jamie Hepburn, the Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills, is seeking views on “whether regulatory measures are required to give
Keepmoat Homes in partnership with South Liverpool Homes, Liverpool City Council and Homes England has been announced winner in the ‘Development of the Year’ category at the 2020 Liverpool City Region Property Awards. The development on Greenway Road, Speke secured the win in this category as a result of the
Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson has been selected by the Department for Education (DfE) to design and build a brand-new facility for the modernisation of Oscott Manor School in Birmingham, as part of the DfE’s Priority School Building Programme. Oscott Manor School, located in Old Oscott Hill, Birmingham, is a
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Canmoor is delighted to welcome Agility Logistics, one of the world’s leading integrated logistics providers to Westway Park. Relocating to Renfrew from Linwood, Agility has agreed terms on 40,000 sq ft of warehousing and distribution space at Block D on a ten-year lease. The space will be used to service growing business contracts in Scotland and around the UK. Agility ships, stores and manages the distribution of goods for businesses of all sizes across a variety of sectors. Operating in 100 countries, it employs more than 26,000 people around the globe. The Renfrew facility is the only one in Scotland and will join a network of 16 strategic locations across the UK. Mick Humphries, Area North West Europe Transport & Warehouse Manager of Agility said: “Our business in the UK continues to develop and we were looking to expand the Scottish facility. Connectivity and communication links were key business requirements and Westway was able to deliver the perfect solution, along with top quality space, within a 24-hour secure environment. “We will undertake fit out works at Westway and become fully operational by April 2021. Toby Saul, Asset Manager of Canmoor added: “Westway continues to be one of the top performing industrial and logistics locations in Scotland. Securing Agility is yet another positive boost for the park, following on from recent lockdown deals with Malcolm Group and the NHS. “It is clear that our ongoing strategy of investment and improvement is proving popular with occupiers in the Scottish market. Since purchasing Westway in 2018, we have invested significantly into building refurbishment and park infrastructure. “Our programme of building refurbishment and investment in park infrastructure will continue with the £3,000,000 refurbishment of Block D which will provide 40,000 sq ft to be let to Agility and a further 60,000 sq ft of top quality refurbished distribution accommodation which will be available to let from April 2021.” Westway is a key strategic industrial and distribution location that offers excellent connectivity to the whole of Central Scotland, with Junction 27 of the M8 only 3 minutes drive away. It is located in the heart of the Glasgow Airport Investment area, which is one of the key City Deal projects that will benefit from £39.1m of inward investment over the next 10 years. This will deliver significant infrastructure investment to the area including a new two-lane bridge over the White Cart, directly linking Westway with the investment area and airport. Westway also benefits from having its own private dock facility on the White Cart Water which accesses the River Clyde. This provides an alternative shipping solution particularly for large products that are unsuitable for transport by road. Canmoor’s joint agents are JLL and Colliers. Agility was represented by Doherty Baines.
Keepmoat Homes in partnership with South Liverpool Homes, Liverpool City Council and Homes England has been announced winner in the ‘Development of the Year’ category at the 2020 Liverpool City Region Property Awards. The development on Greenway Road, Speke secured the win in this category as a result of the impact it’s made on the local community whilst addressing an immediate need for transformation in the area. The judges said the Greenway development was not just a construction project, it was a community project that is “changing people’s lives”. Comprising of 118 family homes, the development features new and innovative modular construction methods which enables the developers to build homes at an accelerated pace, reduce the impact on the environment and offer customers high quality, sustainable homes where they could save up to 20% on their fuel bills. The team were also able to address individual needs, and specially-adapted a home for a family whose daughter has a degenerative illness. As part of their commitment to the wider local community, Keepmoat Homes and South Liverpool Homes helped generate opportunities in training and employment through the use of sub-contractors, work placements and educational visits to the site. Gareth Roberts, Regional Managing Director at Keepmoat Homes, said: “We are delighted that our Greenway development been recognised as the ‘Development of the Year’ at the 2020 Liverpool City Region Property Awards. The award win is a testament to our ongoing commitment we make to go beyond the bricks and mortar and contribute to the local community which we serve. “A lot of hard work by many different people and partners have been involved with the site and I’m really pleased to see everyone’s efforts have been rightly recognised, despite being up against very tough competition.” Claire Ryan, Director of Investment & Assurance at South Liverpool Homes, said “The Greenway development has been specially designed to meet the needs of local people so we are delighted to see it win this award. Not only is it our biggest single housing development in Speke to date, it also saw the first modular homes built for South Liverpool Homes too. “Local engagement and strong partnership working with Keepmoat Homes and Liverpool City Council has been the backbone of its success, together with the much needed funding from Homes England who have been pivotal in helping us to create this new community project in Speke. We are looking forward to seeing all families settle into their homes by spring 2021.” The Liverpool City Region Property Awards recognises businesses and people that have designed, development, funded, built and continue to manage the build environment and recognises their outstanding achievements they have made to the region. Due to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions, no awards ceremony took place this year.
A MAJOR warehouse, that is similar to the size of Amazon’s site in Darlington, has been confirmed near Stockton. Plans have been submitted to Stockton Borough Council for a two million sq ft logistics and distribution centre to be built in Wynyard, near Stockton. The site, which is understood to be a similar size to the recently opened Amazon Fulfilment Centre in Darlington, is expected to open in September 2022. The Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen today welcomed the ‘huge investment’ as he confirmed 3,000 jobs would be created during construction and when it opens. Mr Houchen said: “Logistics is a hugely important sector with huge potential for growth, that’s why the sector is playing an important role in my plan for jobs – a plan that is delivering good-quality, well paid jobs for local workers. “With the deepest port on the east coast that’s also the fifth largest port in the UK right on our doorstep, we are well positioned to take advantage of the explosive growth in the sector that will come over the coming years. “My number one priority is always attracting the businesses and investment to the Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool that will create the good quality well-paid jobs we all want to see come to our region and that’s why I am backing these plans.” Plans for the development have been submitted by Helios Properties for the new facility. Trevor Cartner of Helios Properties said: “I am thrilled that we have submitted our planning application to Stockton Borough Council for our proposed state-of-the-art logistics and distribution centre in Stockton. “This is a huge investment into the area and once it is up and running this centre will create good-quality well paid jobs covering everything from fulfilment staff to HR to finance, business, IT support and engineering. There will also be a significant boost for our construction sector with many more jobs created and safeguarded “We have only been able to get to this stage thanks to the backing of Mr Houchen who sees, as we do, the huge benefits in terms of jobs our plans will bring to the region.” It has not been confirmed who the tenant of the huge site will be.
Investment in Coleshill office will support continued growth of regional business Leading interior design consultancy Office Principles is celebrating 18 months of growth by investing in a new regional headquarters in the West Midlands. The firm has signed a five-year lease on a standalone building at Coleshill Manor Office Campus near the M42 and M6 motorways, that will support its ongoing expansion in the region. Office Principles will design and deliver its own human-centric office fit out to incorporate industry leading technology, with a focus on biophilia, sustainability and employee wellbeing. It is expected to move into the refurbished office facility in early 2021. Formed less than two years ago by Gary Tailby and Tina Batham, Office Principles’ Birmingham-based team delivers multi-disciplinary design, consultancy and construction solutions across a variety of sectors within the built environment. The regional business has enjoyed immediate success, with its original team of seven employees delivering £7.5 million of projects in its first year, with a further £12.5 million secured in 2020. Its growth is set to continue next year, with 20 significant projects about to go to site or in the pre-construction phase and revenue forecast to hit £17.5 million. It plans to further expand its regional team to deliver the new projects, employing 18 staff. Office Principles delivers services on behalf of regional clients including Anglian Water, Cooper Parry and Aegon Asset Management, as well as client consultants CBRE, Knight Frank, EMCOR and Gerald Eve. The Midlands operation is supported by three established Office Principles sites in London, Reading and Manchester. Gary Tailby, Office Principles in Birmingham, said: “We’re incredibly excited to be moving into new premises in the West Midlands. There is a real hunger to continue to grow the business here and I have been impressed by the level of support and commitment that is being invested. When Tina and I formed the Birmingham office, our vision was to secure new business on a negotiated basis through added value in the design phase of a project and build a highly skilled team to deliver on-site. It’s an approach that has been hugely successful. Investing in well connected new premises close to the motorway network, will enable us to capitalise on a growing workload and support our clients UK-wide. We are looking forward to delivering an impressive workplace of the future and have consulted with our people in creating an environment that allows them to work in whatever way they are most productive.” Established over 30 years ago, Office Principles specialises in office refurbishment, commercial fit out and corporate furniture systems. It delivers services on behalf of a wide range of leading UK and international companies including Visa, Twinings and BDO. For more information, please visit: https://officeprinciples.com/
‘AI System for Predicting Embodied Carbon in Construction’ (ASPEC) Winvic Construction Ltd, a leading main contractor that specialises in the design and delivery of multi-sector construction and civil engineering projects, has once again secured Innovate UK funding as part of a cross-sector multidisciplinary research group. Winvic, University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), Edgetrix Ltd and Costain make up the consortium that will use the £800,000 funding to develop the first embodied carbon analytics AI system of its kind over the next two years. The project entitled ‘AI System for Predicting Embodied Carbon in Construction’ (ASPEC) will predict the carbon output on building and infrastructure projects based on BIM designs, materials carbon data and lessons learnt on past projects. Its aim is in line with article eight – Carbon Capture – on the government’s 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, which was launched last week. While construction organisations continue to make advances in how they address both embodied and operational carbon emissions, current calculation methods for the former are onerous; with no design support calculation solution, there is no efficient way for design teams to proactively drive down the embodied carbon and carbon footprint of projects. The revolutionary technology will therefore be crucial in propelling constructors and material manufacturing firms to meet the UK government target removing 10MT of carbon dioxide by 2030. Furthermore, a 50 per cent reduction in carbon emissions has been set through the Construction 2025 strategy and the target for 2050 is to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. In the UK alone, building stocks are responsible for 40 per cent of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions (UKGBC, 2020) Buildings and construction together account for 36 per cent of global final energy use and 39 per cent of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (UNEP, 2018) The proposed ASPEC therefore has three components, to meet the tangible needs of the industry: AI-based Embodied Carbon Calculator (ECC) – This system will predict the embodied carbon cost of any project from a scheme’s BIM model. It will use historic embodied carbon data from previous construction projects and accurate ‘carbon factors’ to develop machine learning models. The creation of the ECC will lead to a dramatic reduction in the time it takes to calculate embodied carbon, bringing the process down from potentially days and weeks of data collection and calculation to a matter of a few hours. Embodied Carbon Analytics and Simulation Platform (ECAS) – This cloud-platform will undertake what-if analyses of the embodied carbon of schemes during the design phase. The tool will use advanced big data analytics to identify alternative design specifications that would reduce the embodied carbon of a project. A user of ECAS will be able to simply change the selection of a building material and obtain an instantaneous embodied carbon figure. BIM-based Design Support Tool for Embodied Carbon Analytics (B-DST) – This solution will also support design teams during the design stages of construction projects. It will integrate with existing BIM development software via an Application Programming Interface (API). Tim Reeve, Winvic’s Technical Director and project lead, commented: “Following the announcement of government targets paired with BREEAM sustainability requirements, construction organisations and clients have worked hard to reduce emissions, but the task certainly isn’t simple. That’s why we believe that utilising the most up-to-date AI and advanced big data analytics techniques in a way that has never been done before will be transformational for Winvic’s green agenda and pave the way for significant changes across the whole industry. Having the ability to optimise schemes and see embodied carbon costs as real-time design and material changes are applied will naturally lead to quantifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and having technology that automatically estimates the embodied carbon cost of any digitally designed project will make the delivery of many project tasks much faster. It’s very exciting to be working on ASPEC – our third Innovate UK funded initiative – with Costain, UWE and Edgetrix and together we aim to deliver these two primary benefits of the project to the industry as early as Autumn 2022.” Dr Lukman Akanbi, Associate Professor at UWE Bristol, said: “Through the ASPEC project, we as academics hope to contribute our technical know-how and expertise in Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence to help move the UK one-step closer towards the realisation of her clean growth strategy and 2050 net-zero carbon target. In addition, UWE Bristol is a university that’s environmentally aware and is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030, so it’s great that we are taking a lead in a project that is looking to help achieve these aims.” Muktar Tijani at Edgetrix, commented: “This ASPEC project provides a simpler, more accurate and innovative approach to predicting embodied carbon in construction projects. As a rapidly growing construction tech-company, Edgetrix is delighted to be part of this project and are committed to helping organisations commence their Net-Zero journey through our expertise in carbon-cutting and modern tech-solutions”. Crucially, Winvic and its project partners will develop a Common Data Environment (CDE) to eradicate the challenges that arise from having multiple, siloed datasets. The huge amounts of data that are generated from different phases of construction projects will be documented and stored in one system; it is this data nucleus that will facilitate the machine learning technologies, providing industry professionals with the insights to make more eco-friendly decisions on materials used. For more information on Winvic, the company’s latest project news and job vacancies please visit www.winvic.co.uk. Join Winvic on social media – visit Twitter @WinvicLtd – and LinkedIn.
A collaboration between Together Housing and Kensa Contracting, resulting in sustainable ground source heat pumps being retrofitted into over 770 homes in the North of England, has won the ‘Heat Pump City of the Year’ category at the international European Heat Pump Awards (EHPA). The government recently set out aspirations for 600,000 electrically-powered heat pumps per year to be installed into homes by 2028, as part of a 10-point plan for a ‘green industrial revolution’. This recent award win demonstrates that the UK is already leading the way on the European stage in reducing carbon emissions to meet its 2050 net-zero target, and is committed to tackling climate change ahead of the COP26 summit, which is being hosted in Glasgow in November 2021. The Heat Pump City of the Year (HPCY) award commends local regions which have put in place large scale exemplary energy-efficient heat pump projects. Together Housing and Kensa Contracting’s continuing programme of retrofit ground source heat pump installations, which has increased comfort levels and lowered heating costs for hundreds of residents across multiple sites in Yorkshire and Lancashire, fought off competition from projects in 110 cities across 27 countries around the world to take the title. Cutting carbon emissions and confronting fuel poverty Following a successful pilot scheme in 2018, Kensa Contracting and Together Housing have been on a mission to tackle fuel poverty and reduce the carbon footprint of the social landlord’s existing housing stock. By replacing a mixture of old gas boilers and inefficient electric storage heaters with Kensa’s highly efficient and low carbon ground source heat pumps over the last three years, more than 700 households have seen savings of up to 45% on their heating and hot water bills. A tenant fed back: “The new heating system is amazing; before it was so difficult to heat up more than one room in my home, but now I don’t have to worry about that.” Using the current SAP methodology, the lifetime carbon savings have been calculated as 44,858tCO2. As the grid further decarbonises with the increased levels of renewable capacity, the carbon impact of heating will be further reduced. The scheme was procured using the ProcurePlus framework, the first domestic ground source heat pump replacement program procured via a framework in this way. Together Housing has made a significant commitment to renewable heat they are leading the way in rolling out large scale deployment of renewable heat technology. Patrick Berry, Managing Director of Together Energy Services, commented: “We are delighted to receive this award from the European Heat Pump Association. This has been Together Housing’s first major commitment to heat pump technology and it will make a great difference to our tenants’ carbon impact. The project paves the way for a much wider application of heat pumps as we move away from fossil fuels in our properties.” David Broom, Commercial Director of Kensa Contracting, said: “Kensa Contracting has pioneered the use of ground source heat pumps in social housing, developing the capability to deliver increasingly ambitious market-leading projects; our work with Together Housing is the largest of its kind delivered to date. This scheme has been a true partnership of client and contractor working to achieve a shared goal of decarbonisation, reducing fuel poverty and providing affordable comfortable homes, through the adoption of British-manufactured renewable technology.” Shared ground loop array infrastructure provides a blueprint After the incumbent heating systems have been decommissioned in each individual property, they are replaced by a quiet and highly efficient Kensa Shoebox ground source heat pump. The Shoebox heat pumps are then linked to arrays of shared ground loop boreholes drilled under the green spaces and car parks adjacent to the tower blocks. The system design is very efficient, as the energy collected from the underlying rock is distributed at an ambient temperature to the individual heat pumps, which then upgrade this to a higher temperature at the point of use and only when required. This is an alternative system architecture to traditional district heating, where heat is generated in a central plant and then continually circulated through the system, which leads to significant heat losses and potential overheating in risers and communal areas. The use of distributed heat pumps also removes the need for a plant room, complex metering and billing arrangements, and restrictive energy supplier contracts, mimicking traditional gas network infrastructure. Ground source heat pump technology is vastly underused within the UK, despite the system efficiencies being some of the best of any other heating technology available, offering the lowest carbon output and running costs. Shared ground loop array schemes are eligible for government funding, and Kensa believes that this accessible and innovative system architecture is the key to increasing the national deployment of the technology.
Stephen George + Partners (SGP) is pleased to announce the completion of a £7million, 54,000 sq ft hangar and associated 15,500 sq ft workshop at Norwich International Airport for Rigby Group plc, owners of Regional City Airports. Ian Yallop, Chairman of SGP says: “Despite these being incredibly difficult times for aviation, project completions such as this showcase the strength and diversity of regional airports. These flexible spaces will meet current and future engineering needs as well as supporting Norwich Airport’s masterplan to maintain its position as a leader in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.” The buildings will accommodate the expansion of KLM UK engineering group, with the double bay hangar designed to service two Airbus A320 aircraft. The workshop is 7.5m to its haunch and the hangar 13.1m haunch, constructed using a Twin-Therm wall system and Euroclad cladding in standard goosewing grey, profiled to break up any interference with the ground radar system. Ian states: “This is an important milestone for SGP. Although we have worked on several masterplans and designs for other regional and national airports, this is the first building to reach completion. In these tough times, we remain committed to using our technical knowledge and expertise in this sector to support the sustained recovery of the aviation industry in the months and years to come.”
Scotland’s largest construction trade association, SELECT, has welcomed a second consultation on regulation of the electrical industry which has been launched by the Scottish Government. The consultation, lodged by Jamie Hepburn, the Minister for Business, Fair Work and Skills, is seeking views on “whether regulatory measures are required to give greater protection to the public and reduce the level of poor electrical workmanship by a persistent rogue trader element”. SELECT Managing Director Alan Wilson said: “This is another great opportunity for the industry to take part and shape the future. “It’s heartening to see that the Scottish Government believes that regulation of the sector is so important that it merits this further consultation. “It’s an excellent chance for Scotland to lead the way and demonstrate that we are committed to safer and brighter future for the industry.” The latest move follows a consultation by Conservative MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston, which was issued in August and closed on 10 November. Mr Halcro Johnston hopes his consultation will lead to a Member’s Bill ensuring that only properly qualified and experienced professionals can call themselves an electrician. SELECT and the Scottish Joint Industry Board (SJIB) were among those who responded to the consultation, which received more than 140 submissions. In her response, Fiona Harper, The Secretary of the SJIB, said: “Electricians frequently voice their concerns and frustration that individuals who have not met the established national and industry standards and are not qualified electricians are able to use the title of electrician. “In what is such a highly-skilled and safety-critical occupation, this situation should be rectified and the title of electrician should be protected.” In the SELECT submission, Mr Wilson said: “Our research suggests net benefits to Scotland from proper regulation of electricians of around £58million, including the benefits of higher electrical standards, such as fewer injuries and deaths, better functioning installations, less need for call backs or for poor/unsafe work to be repaired, leading to improved customer satisfaction.” SELECT has been leading a long-running campaign with other leading industry bodies to make sure that those who work in the industry do so in a safe and competent manner. The groundswell of support on its Wall of Support has seen more than 100 prominent parliamentarians, industry figures and representatives of trade associations and professional services bodies pledging their commitment. The latest consultation can be completed here and closes on 12 February 2021.
Keepmoat Homes in partnership with South Liverpool Homes, Liverpool City Council and Homes England has been announced winner in the ‘Development of the Year’ category at the 2020 Liverpool City Region Property Awards. The development on Greenway Road, Speke secured the win in this category as a result of the impact it’s made on the local community whilst addressing an immediate need for transformation in the area. The judges said the Greenway development was not just a construction project, it was a community project that is “changing people’s lives”. Comprising of 118 family homes, the development features new and innovative modular construction methods which enables the developers to build homes at an accelerated pace, reduce the impact on the environment and offer customers high quality, sustainable homes where they could save up to 20% on their fuel bills. The team were also able to address individual needs, and specially-adapted a home for a family whose daughter has a degenerative illness. As part of their commitment to the wider local community, Keepmoat Homes and South Liverpool Homes helped generate opportunities in training and employment through the use of sub-contractors, work placements and educational visits to the site. Gareth Roberts, Regional Managing Director at Keepmoat Homes, said: “We are delighted that our Greenway development been recognised as the ‘Development of the Year’ at the 2020 Liverpool City Region Property Awards. The award win is a testament to our ongoing commitment we make to go beyond the bricks and mortar and contribute to the local community which we serve. “A lot of hard work by many different people and partners have been involved with the site and I’m really pleased to see everyone’s efforts have been rightly recognised, despite being up against very tough competition.” Claire Ryan, Director of Investment & Assurance at South Liverpool Homes, said “The Greenway development has been specially designed to meet the needs of local people so we are delighted to see it win this award. Not only is it our biggest single housing development in Speke to date, it also saw the first modular homes built for South Liverpool Homes too. “Local engagement and strong partnership working with Keepmoat Homes and Liverpool City Council has been the backbone of its success, together with the much needed funding from Homes England who have been pivotal in helping us to create this new community project in Speke. We are looking forward to seeing all families settle into their homes by spring 2021.” The Liverpool City Region Property Awards recognises businesses and people that have designed, development, funded, built and continue to manage the build environment and recognises their outstanding achievements they have made to the region. Due to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent restrictions, no awards ceremony took place this year.
Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson has been selected by the Department for Education (DfE) to design and build a brand-new facility for the modernisation of Oscott Manor School in Birmingham, as part of the DfE’s Priority School Building Programme. Oscott Manor School, located in Old Oscott Hill, Birmingham, is a SEND (Special Educational Needs & Disability) secondary school supporting pupils with autism. Rated ‘Good’ in the most recent Ofsted inspection, the school has outgrown its current building following an increase in the demand for places, and due to site constraints which has meant the current site is too small to develop. This has resulted in the relocation and the construction of a new school at nearby Reservoir Road in Erdington, Birmingham. Due for completion in winter 2021, the new educational facility will be a community school for 120 young people aged 11-19, with autism as their primary diagnosis. The school will provide educational, health and care plans for each student. Construction works will involve the demolition of existing buildings at the 2.8 acre Reservoir Road site; the former Bridge SEND School, Fairfield Children’s Home and the Children’s Bungalow, followed by the construction of the new 29,923 sq. ft two-storey modern educational facility with a range of versatile teaching spaces for ICT, design and technology, science and music, as well as general staff facilities, external play areas and associated access roads. It will also include a multi-use games area (MUGA), a forest school with associated lighting and secure boundaries, staff parking and safe drop off and pick up areas for pupils. As you enter the site, the school is adjacent to the Elwood Day Centre which will remain open throughout the works, and G F Tomlinson has worked closely with the centre to ensure access will be maintained at all times and there is minimum disruption to service users. Network Rail is situated on the left and residential properties are located to the right and to the rear. This project will mark the 13th scheme delivered by G F Tomlinson under the DfE framework since 2014 and in line with the organisation’s commitment to social value, the scheme will maximise opportunities for work experience and employment, partnering with local schools, colleges, universities and unemployed residents, through an Employment and Skills Plan, developed in consultation with Birmingham City Council. Chris Flint, director of G F Tomlinson, said: “We are delighted to be managing the design and build of the new Oscott Manor SEND School, under the DfE framework. “The building replacement is part of the DfE’s Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) that considers applications from Local Authorities and other agencies to rebuild and refurbish school buildings in the greatest need of repair across the country, and the new building will be constructed by the DfE’s Capital team, which includes G F Tomlinson. “This scheme adds to our strategic portfolio of projects in the education sector throughout the West Midlands region where we have an established reputation for delivering high quality SEND schools, providing safe and inspiring places for young people to learn and thrive. “As always, we have focused on the social value of this project, ensuring our dedicated Employment and Skills Plan provides tangible benefits to the community of Erdington and the surrounding areas.” Head teacher of Oscott Manor School, Victoria Miller, said: “The completion of this carefully designed project will provide a wealth of opportunities for our pupils and enhance their curriculum access, community connections and ability to develop the independent skills that will prepare them for adulthood. We are delighted to be working so closely with the DfE, Bond Bryan Architects and G F Tomlinson to ensure that this project meets the needs of our cohort.” G F Tomlinson’s design team include Bond Bryan Architects, BSP Consulting for structural and civil engineering services and Anderson Green for mechanical and electrical services.
