Gidea Park Primary School

This project was to design a new entrance and extension to an existing 1.5 form entry primary school for the London Borough of Havering, and to provide facilities to enable it to become a 2 form entry school.

The extension included a new entrance, reception and administration area, a new small hall, a flexible multi-use classroom with a glazed roof, and four new classrooms. The work also covered the upgrade of the existing boiler room and the upgrade and extension of the kitchen.

The new-build elements incorporated a number of sustainable features, including high levels of natural light, natural ventilation, the use of thermal mass, excellent airtightness values, high levels of insulation, heat reclaim ventilation in serviced areas, efficient lighting and control and a simple building energy management system.

The project team was procured through the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Framework. Skelly & Couch was appointed by EC Harris LLP to provided full M&E, environmental, sustainability, acoustic and co-ordination design services. The project was procured at the same time as Elm Park, Hylands and Towers Primary Schools (also for Havering), which were all tendered separately and amounted to a total construction value of around £20m.