LANCASHIRE-BASED Collinson Construction has completed work on a new £3.2m school sports facility in Backwell, Bristol, and has also started work on a new multi-million-pound sporting facility at King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth, Lincolnshire.
The Blackwell facility contains a new four-court sports hall, fitness suite, three state-of the-art science laboratories and two classrooms to boost both sporting opportunities and teaching space at the school.
Students began using the new facilities in September, with science, PE, and business and economics being taught in the new buildings.
Robert Duxbury, managing director at Collinson Construction, said: “This is a great project that has brought together a mixture of building techniques, including a traditionally built block of new science classrooms which brings the science teaching spaces in line with the rest of the school’s building quality, while also giving the school additional teaching space to deliver classes in a more covid-secure way. We’re looking forward to seeing the students make use of it in the years ahead.”
Jon Nunes, headteacher of Backwell School, said: “The new building looks fantastic. It is spacious, bright, and modern. It will be home to lessons in three different disciplines - PE, science, and business and economics, and means the school can finally stop teaching in the prefabricated huts that were installed as temporary classrooms way back in the 1980s.”.
Meanwhile, construction work is underway on the new multi-million-pound sporting facility at King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth, Lincolnshire. Collinson is building a new five-court sports hall for the school, in addition to a dance studio, fitness suite, changing rooms and office space.
Designed in line with Sport England design guidance, the double-height sports hall will also feature an external viewing platform, providing elevated views to the school’s green spaces and new football pitch.
The multi-use sports facility has been designed in a way that is sympathetic to the architecture and historical characteristics of the school’s current buildings and surroundings.
Robert Duxbury, managing director at Collinson Construction, said: “We’re pleased to be working with King Edward Grammar to bring these fantastic facilities to life, which will not only enhance the sports provision for the school’s pupils, but will benefit the wider Louth community too.”
James Lascelles, headmaster at King Edward VI Grammar School, added: “We’re delighted to be working alongside Collinson Construction to create this state-of-the-art space that will serve our students and the local community for many generations to come.
“As well as enhancing the quality of our sports facilities here at the school the new indoor facility will be a real asset to the wider Louth community, enabling people to train and play whatever the weather and supporting their physical and mental health.”
The materials used for the project reflect a natural palette, with the external façade of the sports hall clad in cedar timber, while a dark grey profiled roof will work harmoniously with the traditional dark grey slate roofs which adorn the school’s current buildings.
The single-storey ancillary building will be built in brickwork to maintain a heritage link to the school’s Grade II listed buildings, with the brickwork and stonework also providing a close colour match to that of neighbouring St James’ Church.
