Steel schools for Sunderland

Barrett Steel Buildings is working on four Sunderland schools for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme with main contractor Balfour Beatty.

The company has recently completed erecting 390t of steel on Washington School and a further 313t at Castleview School (left). Pennywell and Hylton Red House schools are due to be completed by the end of September.

Chris Heptonstall, Associate Design Director for Barrett Steel Buildings, says Pennywell is the overall flagship school among the four individual projects.

“We are erecting 452t of steel at this school and the work has been both intricate to design and erect.”

Pennywell features a sloping site and six separate three and two-storey buildings which are all linked by covered walkways.

Although all the schools are all located within a three mile radius, Barrett Steel Buildings has individual project teams for each site.

For the benefit of each of the project’s construction teams (main contractor, architect and structural engineer) Barrett Steel Buildings is issuing a weekly email update of the steelwork.

“The email contains a link to our system so team members can view up-to-date development of the 3D Tekla steel model,” explains Mr Heptonstall. “This interaction is most advantageous when reviewing interfaces with other trades.”