St Philip’s School

Requirement

St Philip’s School in Chessington is a special needs school that places a strong emphasis on vocational learning. The leadership team recognised a growing need to enhance their facilities to better support students pursuing hands-on, skills-based subjects such as construction, carpentry, food technology, animal care, and drama.

The goal was to create a new vocational centre that would inspire learning and prepare students for life beyond school. Following consultation with their students, the school identified key subject areas and required a facility that could accommodate multiple workshops and classrooms within a constrained site at the heart of the existing campus.

A key requirement was minimal disruption to term-time operations. The school wanted construction to take place primarily during holidays, ensuring that learning could continue uninterrupted. Having previously completed a successful modular project eight years earlier, St. Philip’s knew that an offsite modular approach would be the most efficient and flexible solution for their expansion.

Solution

Wernick Buildings delivered a 22-module, two-storey modular facility designed specifically to meet the school’s vocational and spatial needs. The building provides seven purpose-built classrooms, including a construction workshop, animal care space, and a large food technology room on the ground floor, with two science labs, a drama studio, and a communication room on the first floor.

The site presented several challenges due to its location at the heart of the school grounds and the presence of established trees that needed to be carefully preserved. Wernick’s pre-construction team carried out extensive groundwork assessments and developed a bespoke foundation solution designed to protect the surrounding root systems and natural environment.

Detailed planning was essential to ensure the installation process was carried out safely and efficiently. The modules were delivered and installed in a carefully phased sequence, minimising disruption to day-to-day school operations and maintaining safe access across the site.

The modular approach allowed the majority of the work to be completed offsite, with installation taking place during the school holidays to further reduce impact on staff and students. Throughout the build, the Wernick team maintained open communication with the school, ensuring challenges were addressed collaboratively and swiftly.

The result is a modern, flexible learning environment that supports a wide range of vocational subjects while demonstrating how modular construction can adapt to complex, sensitive school sites with precision and care.