Michael Drayton Junior School

Project value: £1.5 million

Sector: Education

Project completion: August 2019

Social value created on the project: £250,000

Local spend within 40 miles: 87%

SME spend: 100%

Local labour within 40 miles: 78%

Waste diverted from landfill: 98%

We had a professional site manager who dealt with any questions and concerns throughout the duration of the project, with good communication."

Diane Compton-Belcher

Headteacher | Michael Drayton Junior School

The Michael Drayton Junior School required an extension to accommodate 130 additional students at the start of the 2019 new school year, who had recently moved into the area due to a new housing development constructed nearby.

To avoid the new community needing to divert their children to schools further away, Warwickshire County Council had a requirement to create more spaces at the school for local children.

The programme is being delivered via our Regional Construction framework by Fortem. The programme has now been completed and Fortem have created a four classroom extension to increase school capacity further for the 2019 intake.

The works had a time restriction of 3rd September: completion was necessary in just eight weeks, in time for the return of students after the summer break.

The build for Phase 1 consisted of extensions to the school hall and a refurbishment to the staff room and music room.

The area that was previously used as the music room was turned into storage and a new, more spacious music room was created. The school hall was also extended with new lighting, new flooring and another new storage area was installed.

The works started with a limited amount of time from start to finish, as Phase 1 was planned for delivery within eight weeks, two weeks from the end of term and the six week holidays.

The project also started two weeks before the end of the school year, meaning that the team delivered the work within a live environment.

During the six week holidays, the school also had a holiday club taking place, meaning that the work needed to cause as little disruption as possible, which Fortem is highly experienced in delivering.

Phase 1 met the client objectives: the school opened on time with a renovation and an extension to the staff room. The school was handed over ready for normal operations by 3rd September, with all electrical certificates commissioned.

The project involved one Fortem management trainee, as well as two full time apprentices onsite. This offered them great exposure by introducing the trainees to construction work within the education sector, testing their newly learnt skills against a stringent timescale to deliver ready for the new school year in September.

Social Value Creation

With the project being at a primary school, Fortem had the opportunity to discuss their award winning Pathways4Life Programme and confirm future school engagement activities.

Pathways4Life is Fortem’s ‘4 Pathway’ programme into employment, aimed at enhancing the life chances of 3,500 young people by 2020. As Pathways4Life is the main driver of Fortem's community investment strategy, their goal is to create, manage and deliver community investment activities that contribute directly to society. The '4 Pathways' are school engagement, work experience, apprenticeships and employment.

To date Fortem's programme has;

- Supported and attended the Bailey Park Family Fun Day in conjunction with Nuneaton and Bedworth Council;
- Supported and attended Heath Lane Academy Careers Event.

Fortem have embedding additional social value throughout the project, including delivering STEM workshops to inspire the younger generation.

£250k

Social value created

87%

Local spend within 40 miles

78%

Local labour within 40 miles