The new buildings were desperately needed due to anticipated growth in pupil numbers which the existing school building was unable to accommodate. The site is fully master planned to allow for future expansion to a 630-place primary school and a 60-place pre-school. BIM level 2 was utilised throughout the course of the project to identify clashes and ensure that these were swiftly eliminated. The existing community school were key consultees through the design in developing a new school with key alignment with the traditions of the existing school.

Natural ventilation has been incorporated wherever possible to align with Suffolk County Council’s green credentials and reduce the building’s future running costs.
15 tonnes of waste wood generated during construction was taken and utilised by the Community Wood Recycling Scheme, which also delivers valuable training and apprenticeship opportunities for local people.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Despite being delivered amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, meaningful benefit was delivered throughout the course of the works, with our activities led by the needs of the school and the local community;

We held consultation evenings with parents and meetings with the Governors, Planning and Parish Council to help the project run smoothly.

Newsletters were utilised to inform the local community about the project, including information regarding significant deliveries and site activities, as well as contact information for our project team in the event of any queries or concerns.

We held a ‘design a health and safety poster’ competition for pupils to support the curriculum.

“Thurston Primary School was delivered as a two-stage tender on behalf of Suffolk County Council and was procured under Suffolk County Council’s construction framework. The project team at Concertus worked with Barnes through the second stage to develop the design and formulate costs in line with the client’s budget and aspirations.
During the tender period, Barnes attended bi-weekly workshops to discuss the design for each element of the building where they came to the table with cost effective solutions and efficiencies, providing the client with best value.
Barnes worked alongside the project QS to update the cost plan and demonstrate active value engineering without compromising the design intent or quality of the end product.”
David Garrard, Associate (Architecture), Concertus Design and Property Consultants, on behalf of Suffolk County Council