A feature of the project has been the number of different materials and finishes used - everything from traditional blockwork and brickwork, curtain walling, Glulam timber beams, large areas of fenestration, different coloured render to Metsec and timber cladding - which has created a stunning building. Facing South across the Tyne Valley, the design also includes raised timber verandas to the exterior of many of the teaching rooms.

Site Manager, Peter Galbraith, commented, “It’s been a challenging project mainly because of the very many different materials used and their interfaces. It ‘s also the first project where all correspondence and drawings have been communicated entirely by e-mail which has been a tremendous help. We actually lost 4 weeks early on in the contract due to the steel coming from Durham but being designed to match Dutch specifications for the Glulam beams, but we pulled this back to finish within our 46 week contract.”

St Catherine’s Primary School in Sandyford, Hadrian Special Needs School in Benwell, Chillingham Road Primary School in Heaton, Wyndham Primary School in Fenham and Farne Primary School in Westerhope will all benefit from the £2.3 million scheme for the Newcastle City Education Authority, funded entirely by the Space For Sport And Art scheme through the National Lottery. Work on the six month project will begin as soon as the schools close in July with the five sports halls due to open next January.

The partnering team chosen for the scheme, one of the first of its kind in the country, consists of architects Jane Darbyshire and David Kendall (JDDK) Ltd, Kendall Cross Holdings as main contractor, RNJ partnership as Quantity Surveyors, Building Design Northern as Structural Engineers and Cundall Johnson as Mechanical Engineers.

Principal Architect, Wenda Fabian, working for Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall Ltd, explained the reasoning behind the partnering contract., “The delivery for this scheme is extremely tight in that the funding was only confirmed in February and yet we needed to get contractors on site by July. We therefore recommended a two stage tender process to our client, after the first stage of which the short-listed main contractors were invited to present their approach to partnering. The attitude of the Kendall Cross team, and their substantial existing track record on partnering schemes made them a natural choice. The advantage for the City is that the tendering process is dramatically reduced which allows us to speed up the whole build programme right from the design stage - it also delivers Best Value by allowing the whole team to work together right from the start.”

“Sports Halls are particularly important to schools, not only allowing a space for physical exercise and the delivery of music and drama, but also crucially freeing up the main Assembly Hall, which often tends to be tied up as a Dining hall for large parts of the day in any case, for other purposes and these buildings will add a very substantial resource to the schools for the delivery of curriculum activities.”

Importantly, the intention of Sport England, the funding body, is that the buildings should also be available for community sports use whilst a contribution from the Arts lottery ensures the delivery of drama and music activities will also receive priority.

Ian Graham, MD of Kendall Cross Holdings, commented, “It makes perfect sense for the City of Newcastle to choose a partnering contract as it will enable them to achieve considerable savings by having one architect and QS dealing with one contractor, even though the project is split over five sites. By joining together right from the start, we’ve already been able to deliver cost engineering benefits to the original designs and have realised
economies of scale with our suppliers and subcontractors. Not only is the build programme accelerated but administrative costs are also reduced, all of which means the maximum Lottery funding goes to where it’s intended, to the children of the City of Newcastle.”

Whilst each of the new sports halls has the common element of a 10m by 18m activity area for badminton, 5 a side football or similar sports, each building is different with the individual sites presenting wholly separate challenges to the contractors, as Ian Graham continued, “Although all five of the buildings are basically similar with steel frames and masonry infill, two also have an additional class room, through separate LEA funding, two have curved roofs so all five differ. Obviously the sites all differ too, with the Chillingham Road one being particularly tight to fit in the new building between two existing ones. All in all, however, it is very interesting project to run five separate jobs for the same client at the same time and we’re looking forward to starting work in July.”

The £934,000, 38 week contract is due to complete by the end of Sptember giving the College a 35m x 34m sports hall complete with changing and fitness rooms. Designed by Jane Darbyshire & David Kendal Ltd, with Hall & Partners as Project Managers, the construction is being undertaken by Kendall Cross Holdings Ltd on a design and build contract basis.

Ken Armstrong, North Tyneside College Buildings Manager, commented, “The existing 1960’s Sports Hall simply wasn’t adequate for our needs and will now be converted for use by Performing Arts. This new building is a massive enhancement, enabling us to offer full sports facilities both for leisure activities and new sports-based courses.”

Kendall Cross’ Contracts Manager, Simon Grylls, added, “The actual building itself is a fairly standard steel frame construction with brick infill and cladding and a semi-sprung timber sports floor. We began on site in January and the work programme has run very smoothly and is on target and within budget. This project is actually part of a number of sports projects we’re currently involved in, including the £2.8 million Brierton School Sports Hall at Hartlepool which was just officially opened earlier this month. In addition, a partnering contract with Jane Darbyshire & David Kendall again will see us constructing five new sports halls for five City of Newcastle schools over the Summer period.”

“Like all education work, the skill is being able to run the construction site without impacting on the day-to-day running of the school or college and ensuring that the site is completely safe. After that it’s a question of being able to apply our knowledge of materials and the construction process to offer the client best value on the particular project.”

Designed by Darlington architects, Niven & Niven, the two storey, 11 classroom Humanities Building is the final link which pulls together the diverse buildings on the site to consolidate teaching areas into one zone. Work on the steel framed, masonry clad building, which features a central atrium and extensive use of ramps for pupils with physical difficulties to overcome the changes in levels the site presents, started in September 1999 with completion one year later.

Headteacher, Ed Lott, explained the difficulties the contractors had overcome, “With 820 pupils on this site, we were obviously extremely concerned about the disruption to school activities and for the safety of our pupils. However, right from the very first pre-site meetings, we’ve been incredibly impressed by the attitude of the whole project team, especially the actual builders. Safety and the reduction of any disruption have been foremost in their planning with deliveries scheduled out of school hours and access to potentially hazardous areas sealed off.”

“The end result has been the absolute minimum disruption to school life and a safe project which looks set to be completed on time and within budget. We have further plans for this historic school, including the possible redevelopment of the Grade II listed Laurel Building (named after our most famous ex-pupil, Stan Laurel) into a Performing Arts Centre, and can only hope that any future contractors are as good at their job.”

Neil Ramsey, Chairman of Kendall Cross Holdings, commented, “Refurbishment and new build work within the educational sector is of vital importance to the company, and a sector in which we have an excellent track record. The skill is to manage the project around the normal school activities without disrupting these, and also to be aware that children are less predictable in their actions when it comes to safety. It’s really a question of maximising co-operation with the school or college so that the client can carry on their work whilst we do our job - it’s a partnering attitude which leads to benefits for all parties.”

The 1960’s concrete structure was showing signs of considerable decay, especially to the external walls which were to be clad with modern weathershield screens with further refurbishment to toilet blocks to include disabled facilities and additional internal partitions to several rooms. The main contractor for this work has been Newcastle-based builder, Kendall Cross Holdings Ltd, with design and management by City Design, the in-house architectural department of Newcastle City Council. The work included the internal refurbishment of the entrance, corridors and toilet block together with the partial refurbishment of the external fabric including new windows and cladding which have dramatically altered the look and image of the school.

Mick McHugh, Kendall Cross Holdings’ Contracts Manager, explained the project, “It was a slightly unusual job for us in that the initial description of works tendered for was dramatically increased once the roof structure was found to be severely damaged. What should have been a 13 week contract turned into 28 week contract once the decision to replace the existing felt on the flat roof had been made. With any 60’s concrete structure, however, such deterioration is really to be expected and once the scaffolding was in place for the external cladding, it made economic sense to replace the roof at the same time.”