Steel creates stand-out campus
Overlooking a Scottish Borders town, an architecturally-impressive school campus has
been constructed with a steel framing solution.
Three existing schools in the Scottish
Borders town of Jedburgh will
be relocating next year into a
new, modern and architecturallyinspiring
school campus.
Known as the Jedburgh Intergenerational
Community Campus, the £32M facility
will have provision for up to 1,000 nursery,
primary and secondary school children,
alongside further education students.
Meanwhile, serving the wider populace
of the town, community facilities at the
Campus will include a multi-use games area,
2G hockey pitch, 3G rugby/football pitch
and a 100m running track. The Campus
will also have a separate steel portal-framed
rural skills building that will teach farming
techniques.
Positioned towards the top of a steep
sloping site, the desire was always to have
a stand-out and architecturally-impressive
building, as the school will be visible from
large parts of the town below.
To this end, a steel-framed solution was
chosen for the building, with precast planks
used to form each of the upper floor slabs.
“By using steel we’ve been able to work
closely with the architect to design a regular,
economic frame, which has allowed the
saving in weight to be spent on the more
visually exciting parts of the structure,
such as the rooflights and cantilevers,” says
Goodson Associates Project Engineer Euan
Kerr.
These rooftop cantilevers form canopies
that will give some protection against the
weather, as well as providing solar shade. The
parapets at the end of each cantilever have
been utilised to provide edge protection to
the roof. At the main front elevation of the
school building the cantilever is 7.5m-deep,
while on the other facades the overhang is
slightly shallower at 4.5m.
Internally, the steelwork and the precast
ceiling soffit are all left exposed, thereby
creating the desired modern industrial
looking environment that also complements
the open-plan layout of the school. There
are no doors to many of the classrooms
and plenty of break-out space, which all
contributes to an informal and relaxed
school design.
Preparing a suitable flat plot for this standout
school required main contractor BAM
Construction to undertake a three-month
long enabling works programme, in order to
create several terraces to accommodate the
building and its sports facilities.
The school is positioned on two terraces,
while the sports pitches are located on the
top plateau, which is at the same level as the
school’s roof.
Four retaining walls have been formed
to create the terraces, the tallest of which
is 12m-high and positioned at the rear of
the main school building. The retaining
structures have been constructed as gabion
walls using locally-sourced rocks to create a
natural look.
“Our first task was to create an access road
up the site,” explains BAM Project Manager
David Brodie. “We then undertook a large
cut-and-fill earthmoving programme, with
very little overburden leaving the site as it
was reused around the plot.”
Education
The rear of the school
is built into the site’s
slope
FACT FILE
Jedburgh
Intergenerational
Community Campus,
Jedburgh
Main client:
Hub South East and
Scottish Borders Council
Architect:
Stallan Brand
Main contractor:
BAM Construction
Structural engineer:
Goodson Associates
Steelwork contractor:
Hescott Engineering
Steel tonnage: 800t
20 NSC
February 19
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