The Brief:
Winfred Holtby Academy and Tweendykes School and Sixth Form were previously situated on two separate sites in Hull.
Hull City Council wanted to rebuild Winifred Holtby on its existing site and co-locate Tweendykes, which caters for children and young people with Special Educational needs (SEN) and Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), in a two-storey building on the same site.
This allows students, parents and staff from both schools to learn, socialise and work together, supporting the development of a shared curriculum, including new approaches to teaching and learning.
Winifred Holtby has 1,350 students, while Tweendykes has 100.
The £38 million project was one of the first under the £400 million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and construction and regeneration company Morgan Sindall was appointed to carry out the work.
The Solution:
The scheme was one of the first occasions a mainstream school had been co-located with a special educational needs (SEN) school in Hull.
Full engagement was in place before construction work began and more than four months of enabling works took place to pave the way for the project to begin.
Site visits, fact-finding exercises to other similar sites and facilities management options were considered before construction.
The existing Winifred Holtby building, which was adjacent to the construction site, remained a live environment until July 2011, and plans were put in place to segregate the construction site and minimise disruption to the school day during term times.
Relocation of a youth club and road widening also took place before work began.
The Delivery:
Teaching spaces were grouped into learning suites to offer a range of facilities, including learning spaces and classrooms, breakout spaces, resource management areas and storage, pupil resources and toilets.
A range of dining and café areas, external teaching spaces and high tech indoor sports facilities, including a four-court sports hall, gymnasium, health and fitness suite, and a range of sports pitches, were also created.
A new swimming pool was installed, alongside a dining café, bistro and meeting spaces, a learning resource centre, theatre and performance space, and specialist areas for motor vehicle maintenance.
Environmental concepts, including solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system, were also installed.
The Results:
• The project was completed on time, ready for the start of the new school term in September 2011, and on budget.
• Each area of Winifred Holtby Academy is designed with the students in mind and the most of the facilities represent what they will access in a working environment.
• Facilities on the site are available to the wider community during evenings, weekends and outside term time.