Six Zentia ceiling systems feature on one of Northumberland’s largest schools.

A range of Zentia’s suspended ceiling tiles and grid systems have been used as part of an award-winning project to transform one of Northumberland’s largest schools. The Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham, Northumberland, was crowned “Project of the Year – Schools” at the Education Estates Awards in November 2022.

A total of almost 11,000m² of Zentia’s Dune eVo, Perla, Hydroboard, Bioguard and Hygiene tiles, all in white, as well as Colortone Neeva tiles in black, were specified by Ryder Architecture for the £38 million redevelopment.

One of Zentia’s largest projects in the education sector, Zentia manufactured and supplied a versatile range of ceiling solutions to suit a variety of environments with variable performance requirements. The judges said the scheme was “a great design solution on a challenging site that includes a listed building” and a “beautiful integration, well presented.”

The school, which was established in 1599 before expanding into the retained Grade-II listed Hydro building in 1976, was a complex refurbishment project with several vastly different ceiling technologies required.

Working with contractor Galliford Try and two specialist sub-contractors, Keyes Brothers Construction Ltd and Riss Ltd, Zentia supplied a total of 8,670m² of Cradle to Cradle® Certified Dune eVo Tegular and Max Tegular for use in the classrooms and corridors. An additional 615m² of laminated Perla dB Tegular and 1,000m² of Perla OP 0.95 Tegular was used on the top floor as well as in specific classrooms requiring additional acoustics, such as music rooms and workshops.

In addition, the Colortone Neeva with black grid and trim was used in the assembly room and lecture theatre; 140m² of Bioguard Plain Tegular, known for its antimicrobial performance, was used in the kitchen; 60m² of Hydroboard, a specialist tile designed for high humidity areas, in the toilets, and 440m² of Hygiene, a tile suitable for high pressure cleaning, in the kitchen and dining hall.

In the more humid environments of the kitchen and toilets, the tiles were used with a non-corrosive trim and grid.

SIG in Newcastle acted as the distributor of these products to ensure a seamless delivery to site.

Keyes Bros had teams of up to 30 operatives on site for 10 months. Procurement Manager Aiden Keyes said: “Client teams are always demanding sustainable products and Zentia’s recycling programme and Cradle to Cradle Certification more than meets these demands. Installation-wise, it was a tight programme with ongoing coordination issues whilst having to navigate and work through Covid 19 restrictions, so we had to be even more proactive than usual.”

Riss also had teams of up to 25 on site, also for 10 months. Construction Manager Charlotte Edmonds said: “The spec was determined before it reached us, but we still went out to the market and looked at all the options and decided that Zentia had a strong regional presence offering support. With this in mind we did not challenge the specification.

“The project was challenging due to the time frame and ensuring all works were complete to enable the school to re-open on time, but the Zentia products performed great. There were no problems and they looked very good upon installation and completion of the project.”

She explained that the waste ceiling material was segregated into allocated bins provided by Galliford Try but the amount of waste was minimised as Riss used the cut-offs for rips around the perimeter.

At Queen Elizabeth High School, the creation of a high quality and welcoming environment will benefit both the 1,300 students and surrounding community, with the project combining the very best of modern educational facilities in a sustainable setting, blended with the existing buildings on the site.

Galliford Try’s Operations Director Jeremy Barnett, who attended the official opening, said: “It was fantastic to be part of a ceremony that showcased to the Education Secretary, Nadhim Zahawi MP, the high-quality learning environment we have created at Hexham. We hope that students, staff and the local community benefit from these facilities for years to come.”

Head of Queen Elizabeth High School Neil Seaton said: “The new building provides facilities that reflect the ambition of our school and the requirements of a 21st Century learning environment.”

CLICK HERE To find out more about Zentia’s comprehensive product range

An Essex school has been forced to close until after Christmas due to concerns about asbestos. The King Edmund School in Rochford has been closed since November 14 after the Department for Education (DfE) made them aware that traces of asbestos has been unexpectedly found in a demolished building.

The school has not been open since and has been providing online lessons for students. Letters seen by EssexLive today (November 22), however, show that the school will not be reopened until after Christmas.

In a letter to parents, headteacher Jonathan Osborn said: “While I understand that this is necessary, we are very disappointed, as staff are desperate to return to normal school life and to normal lessons. We are now working at speed with the DfE and Essex County Council to put in place the best provision we can for the remainder of this term.”

It continues: “The DfE have reassured us that they will be able to allow us into the school at the end of this week so that we can collect belongings, resources and equipment. This will put us in a much stronger position to move to live lessons from Monday, 28th November 2022. We are also looking closely at how best to support students for those who need it – for example, our SEND students.”

Another letter, written by Luke Kennedy, part of the Department for Education, reveals more than 200 points are being tested by specialist staff across the school site. Results should be available later this week.

It says: “We had initially hoped that it might be possible to reopen the school as early as this week. However, having discussed the matter with internal experts and having consulted Oracle Solutions, the specialist company we have appointed, we concluded that a full enhanced programme of testing should take place. We took this decision to offer the school and community as much assurance as possible.”

“I know that the school community will have questions,” the letter continues. “All air tests conducted so far have not given any results that cause concern, but we will of course be better able to answer questions once testing is fully completed.

“We appreciate this will be frustrating, but we need to wait for the full test results so we can understand the full picture. However, we are clear that there were some traces of asbestos on the ground in the fenced off area where the demolished building was sited.”

Further on, Mr Kennedy says: “I am sorry to say that this will mean closing the school site for much longer, for the next four weeks, meaning it will not reopen until after Christmas. I know this will be very frustrating for the whole school community.

“However, I believe this is the right approach as this will mean that we can give you, your staff, parents and children the most assurance possible that the site is safe and reassurance that there is no scope for further issues relating to this area.”

FARRANS COMPLETES TECHNICALLY CHALLENGING STUDENT ACCOMMODATION PROJECT IN BELFAST

Leading building and civil engineering contractor, Farrans Construction, has completed a technically challenging student accommodation project in Belfast for client CA Ventures.

The Aster House PBSA scheme offers 253 student bed spaces across 5-storeys and is situated in Belfast city centre on a 20-year old podium previously constructed for another scheme by Farrans, which runs directly over the main railway route into the city centre. The build is a lightweight steel met-sec structure on a new concrete transfer slab.

The scheme was delivered through a JCT Design and Build Contract as a tranche of three across the UK. Farrans worked with the client through a PCSA period to ensure the structure was suitable for this scheme.

The project provides a mixture of cluster beds and studios, with living, kitchen and study rooms provided within the building. The work brought together Farrans’ building and civil engineering divisions to deliver a technically challenging and complex project.

Felim Blaney, Contracts Manager for Farrans, said: “This was an exciting build to be involved in from the beginning, supporting CA Ventures through the design period right through to the completed building, which has opened for this year’s intake of students at Queen’s University Belfast. Our design responsibility extended to dealing with the planning authority along with responsibility for fire and, importantly, acoustic considerations given the railway. Our construction programme was agreed with Translink so as not to impact on the public transport route.

“We have extensive experience in the student accommodation sector having recently completed St Thomas Street in Bristol for F3 Group and we are on site for Live Oasis: Strato in Leeds city centre for client Infinity Construction Enterprises, as we continue to grow our presence in the north of England.”

“Belfast continues to experience unprecedented demand for student accommodation, and we are grateful for the opportunity to address the need for student beds through the delivery of Aster House – a thoughtfully-designed, one-of-a-kind PBSA scheme built with wellness and sustainability at its core,” said Tom Banning, Senior Vice President of Development for CA Ventures. “Managed by CA’s in-house property management company, Novel Student, Aster House has already made a splash in the market at nearly 100% pre-leased for the 2022-2023 school year. We look forward to facilitating the future successes of the asset in years to come under the Novel operating platform.”

Work is underway on a new transformational learning space for Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) children at East Hunsbury Primary School.

The school has teamed up with Wellingborough-based Timotay Playscapes to plan three distinct areas for pupils aged four and five. Features include a role play village, an outdoor learning zone (with ‘deluxe’ mud kitchen), creative studio area, water play, climbing apparatus and a construction area complete with gravel pit, sand pit, trike and cycle area, as well as a ’show time’ performance stage and storytelling area.

In April 2022, East Hunsbury was confirmed as a Good school following an Ofsted inspection, and this investment in its EYFS facilities is another sign of its commitment to building on that success with the quality of learning and teaching going from strength to strength. The project itself has been designed to support “creativity, independence and innovation” from the moment children start at East Hunsbury Primary School.

“Early years is one of the most important stages in a child’s life – they have to be learning and happy from day one – and, as a school, we have a clear vision on what is required to support that,” explained Headteacher Kathryn Pennington. “From our perspective EYFS children need to be learning from everything in their school environment, and this environment also facilitates how we teach. We are investing in teaching our inspirational and enabling curriculum and it is important that we have the facilities to support this.”

Kathryn continued: “Through my experience working nationally and internationally, I have seen at first-hand some truly great EYFS practice in many different schools and the design we have come up with is informed by that. However, most importantly, this is about supporting the needs of our children in our community and making them happy. We are really pleased to be working with Timotay Playscapes, as a locally-based company, who are hugely experienced and have provided some excellent challenge throughout the project. This is a major commitment by the school to families in our area.”

The EYFS area, which is due to be completed in December 2022, is the latest development in a long-term building and maintenance programme. Recently the school’s specialist unit, which teaches 50 children with profound and multiple learning difficulties, underwent a refurbishment which included a new sensory room and there are also plans to install a brand-new all-weather pitch and outdoor gym equipment. “As a flagship school for inclusion, we hope that the EYFS outdoor space will provide even more opportunities for every child in our school community to learn and grow together,” Kathryn revealed.