The Brief:
Across the country, there’s a significant shortage of specialist school places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with rising demand outstripping supply. As part of our long-term work with Hull City Council to provide additional SEND places in the city, we developed and delivered a scheme at Boulevard Academy to create a dedicated SEND Unit and Resource Base.
The Solution:
Boulevard Academy is a secondary school in West Hull with over 800 students. The school was identified as an opportunity to create extra places for students with SEND in the city, and Esteem was asked to manage a scheme to create a new dedicated SEND Unit and Resource Base on the existing school site.
The Challenges:
A new modular building was installed on the site, on a currently unused space within the school grounds. Our construction partners, Sewell Construction, created a piled foundation for the new building, with an accessible decking area featuring both ramp and step access. Landscaping improvements were also carried out to ensure the new building integrated with its surroundings.
Construction on a live school site is always challenging, but the project was timed to ensure that particularly noisy or disruptive activities such as the piling and drainage works were carried out in the school holidays, to minimise any impact on students and staff.
The weather was also challenging, with excessive rainfall during the project causing ground conditions to deteriorate, making site logistics difficult. This was rectified through measures being put in place on site, and good coordination between all project stakeholders.
A Considerate Constructors scheme visit to the site scored the project with 45 out of 45 points, with two bonus points also added for the use of innovative best practice, and the project being commended for its commitment to sustainability.
The Results:
The end result of the project was a dedicated SEND Unit for the school, which will allow an additional 25 pupils with special educational needs to be given the extra assistance they require to access education. This contributes to the overall SEND plan for the city, giving students with additional needs the opportunity to fulfil their potential through specialist support.
During the project opportunities were provided of work experience for two students with SEND who had an interest in pursuing a career in construction, enabling them to experience a real-life work environment, and explore different career options within the construction industry. Additionally, we took two students and staff members to visit the site where the modular building was being created, using augmented reality to visualise what the building would look like once complete.