Oldfield School

Requirement

Oldfield School has a passion for drama. Rated “Outstanding” by OFTSED, the school prides itself on providing pupils with the opportunity to express their creativity through drama lessons. To expand teaching space and provide extra facilities for the students to explore their dramatic talents, Oldfield turned to Wernick Buildings.

Oldfield required a building that could be constructed quickly, but that would mirror the appearance of the traditionally built schoolrooms opposite. The answer was Wernick’s Rapidplan modular system; which allowed the building to be constructed twice as fast as a traditional build and could be fully customised to suit its surroundings.

Wernick saw the project through from page to stage; working to create a bespoke design that met all the School’s requirements for increased teaching space. The new building provided extra classrooms and a spacious drama studio with sprung flooring. High quality acoustics and sound proofing were integrated to make the best environment possible for dance and drama. In keeping with the dramatic theme, all interiors were to be black, and the storage spaces needed to be big enough to accommodate demountable staging.

Before the modular units could be installed, the site needed to be excavated to create room for the new building, and the school’s old drama studio had to be demolished to make way for the new one.

Despite difficulties accessing the site due to narrow roads, installation occurred with very little drama and the building was fully installed in just 12 weeks.

After installation the new classrooms and studio were finished with brick and render to match the design of existing school buildings nearby. The roof was prepared for a future Sedum covering, which in time will grow to create a living green roof.