Steelwork completes on Oldham academy

Working on behalf of Galliford Try, EvadX has completed the erection of 520t of structural steelwork for the Oasis Academy Leesbrook in Oldham.

Located on the outskirts of the former mill town, the new school is being built on the site of the old Breeze Hill School, which was closed down in 2013.

The new school, which is currently located in temporary accommodation in the town centre, will cater for 1,500 pupils, aged between 11-16.

Rising to four-storeys, the school includes an indoor sports hall, while outside, it will have three sports pitches, a playground, a multi-use games area and car parking.

The main school block is a rectangular structure measuring approximately 80m x 30m. It is a steel braced frame supporting metal decking to form a composite flooring solution throughout.

As well as accommodating some classrooms around its perimeter, the ground floor of the main block also has some large open column-free double-height spaces that are located in the middle of the structure.

These spaces will accommodate the main hall, a drama studio and a dining area. The first two rooms can be combined into one large area with the removal of a sliding wall partition.

To create these large spaces, a series of transfer structures were necessary, the biggest of which is an 18.6m-long x 2m-deep truss positioned at first floor level above the main hall.

“The truss weighs 11t and was the heaviest and largest single steel element on the project,” said EvadX Project Manager Steve Morris. “It was delivered to site as one piece and lifted into position by one mobile crane.”