The new Welland Primary School is an eco-friendly school that replaced the existing school building. The £10 million project includes a new five storey school building comprising of administration accommodation and specialist teaching areas with a new sports hall wing with a rooftop games court. External works include a entrance forecourt with car parking, three hard-play courtyards and external learning areas.Two different structural framing solutions will be utilised to construct the building frame. The main building was formed using cross laminated timber, whilst the sports hall with rooftop MUGA will be of a braced steel frame construction.
The council’s children’s department wanted a school, its planners wanted a BREEAM Very Good rating, its finance department wanted a budget kept to, and its architects had come up with a design which – while ideal for the BREEAM rating – was going to be too costly. Kier Eastern looked to architect Woods Hardwick, with which it had previously worked, to try to find a solution so that the school could be built to budget and still gain the coveted rating.
The former Welland school stood in playing fields large enough to accommodate a new school. Thus design and construction took place on the new school while the old one remained open. Once pupils had moved to the new school the old one was demolished – for safety’s sake during school holidays – and replaced by a car park, with playing fields being provided by the council on a nearby site.