Bishop Chavasse Church of England Primary School

Part of the Free Schools programme, the Bishop Chavasse Church of England Primary School is an excellent example of how Galliford Try’s Optimum Schools principles have the flexibility to deal with challenging sites and conditions.

The school used extensive off-site construction, including utilising a lightweight frame of Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) to form the structure, internal partitions and floors. This modular panelised solution gave the quality, speed and performance benefits of offsite manufacture, but with the flexibility to create bespoke spaces not afforded by volumetric modular solutions.

This, combined with pre-cast stair units and pre-fabricated M&E systems, delivered further programme efficiencies. The high percentage of off-site elements, 75% Pre-Manufactured Value, increased the accuracy of the construction process to provide an exceptionally high-quality building that was delivered 14 weeks faster than a traditional build.

The SIPs solution also provided the thermal performance to meet the DfE Output Specification. SIPs buildings are more airtight and energy efficient than older technologies, ensuring reduced whole-life costs through significantly lower energy bills.

The off-site delivery of the school build provided additional benefits for the project as the team were working side-by-side on a constrained site and using a shared entrance with the existing school, which was housed in temporary accommodation. The Optimum Schools  solution resulted in less disruption to the day-to-day running of the school and reduced vehicle movements, noise and dust.