Castleview School
Requirement
“It’s all about trust and relationships.” This was the first comment that Italo Cafolla, the head-teacher of Castleview School, Slough, made about the five new modular classrooms recently delivered to his school. The school age population in Castleview’s catchment area is growing rapidly and the extra classroom accommodation was desperately needed, but getting it delivered into the middle of a crowded campus, with only one narrow entrance via a residential cul-de-sac, and all this while the school was in operation, had caused him a few sleepless nights in the early stages of planning. But, as Italo went on to explain, “Wernick’s site staff were not only totally professional; they were also very accommodating about site working arrangements … they were a solution driven team”.
The school takes children from nursery to eleven years of age so Italo insisted that all five classrooms should be “multi-purpose and multi-functional”, enabling the rooms to be used by children of all ages. “We don’t need to be reminded that money is tight at the moment”, said Italo, “The education sector has limited resources, but I insisted on a light, bright environment, larger than normal classrooms and extra wide corridors, so that student movement at key times in the day is fluid”.
Other essentials in the building specifications were air-conditioning in all the classrooms, ITC connections with double electric plugs and ample computer connections. White boards and data projectors were also fitted within each teaching area.
Internal walls are painted tape and fill plasterboard. Exterior walls are finished in acrylic render and cedar wood cladding. Also, the top-hung, sound insulated folding partitions between adjoining classrooms makes for flexibility in the use of space and take only moments to position or stow away in their purpose designed alcoves.
With the school’s single narrow access, delivery to the site could have been tricky during term time, so Italo decided to take advantage of the long royal wedding weekend by adding three training days to the Easter break and closing the school for an additional week. An eighty tonne crane lifted the seventeen modules that comprise the two buildings into position. From that moment the buildings were watertight. The remaining site finishing work took just six weeks.
Wernick’s site staff were not only totally professional; they were also very accommodating about site working arrangements … they were a solution driven team.
