The nursery school will
be accommodated on
the lowest level
NSC 21
February 19
Once the considerable preparatory works
had been completed, the main steel frame for
the school building was erected by Hescott
Engineering during a 12-week programme.
Overall the steel frame forms one large
structure which is two storeys high at the
front and three storeys towards the rear as it
works its way into the hill.
One row of columns is supported on
concrete piers set within the main retaining
wall. The steelwork in this location
overhangs a void between the Campus’s
lower levels, forming an undercroft,
which will be used to accommodate
plant equipment. Above, the third-floor
classrooms over-sail the undercroft and have
access to a rear positioned playground on an
upper terrace.
The Campus is centred around a large
entrance and atrium area that has a series of
centrally-positioned rooflights. This is a large
column-free double-height space and forms
the zone where the school steps up from two
to three storeys.
The design brief for the Campus
incorporates a journey through education,
beginning with the nursery school at ground
floor level.
The nursery is located at the front
portion of the two-storey block in front of
the entrance, with primary school facilities
above. Pupils will then continue their
educational voyage along to the high school
parts of the Campus which are located in the
three-storey part of the school positioned
towards the rear of the entrance/atrium.
Predominantly the steelwork is based
around a 7.5m column grid, as this was
considered the most economic and efficient
pattern for the classrooms. The only
exceptions, apart from the entrance/atrium
are the main assembly hall and sports hall.
Both of these large column-free areas sit
adjacent to each other, separated by a storage
area, and are located at the rear of the school.
These two double-height spaces are formed
with long-span Westok cellular beams that
not only form the large open spaces for
the halls, but also act as transfer structures
for the school’s third floor high school
level, where the column grid returns to the
project’s standard 7.5m column spacing.
A series of 19m-long × 1.1m-deep cellular
beams has been used for the sports hall.
These sections, weighing 6t each, were the
heaviest individual steel elements on the
project. They arrived on site in two pieces,
measuring 15m and 4m-long respectively.
“The complete beams would have been
too long to transport up the access road
which has a couple of tight bends,” says
Hescott Engineering Contracts Manager
Tony McAleese.
The beams were spliced together on site
before being lifted into place as complete
members. The cellular beams, like the
majority of the project’s steelwork, will be
left exposed within the completed scheme
and so the bolted connections will be feature
elements. There were no such transportation
challenges encountered for the assembly hall
beams as these members are slightly smaller
at 15m-long × 900mm-deep.
The Campus is scheduled to be complete
by Spring 2020.
Education
Steel erection was
completed in 12 weeks
The campus juts out
from the slope with the
sports pitches located
behind on a plateau
/Construction#Steel_erection
/Steel-supported_glazed_facades_and_roofs#Atrium_Roofs_and_Sky_lights
/Concept_design#Floor_grids
/Steel_construction_products#Cellular_beams
/Fabrication#Handling_and_transportation
/Moment_resisting_connections#Splices
/Simple_connections