Pupil toilet refurbishments

A key building item, and an expensive one, for all schools are the pupil toilets as they require regular maintenance and upgrading. This upgrade work is managed and delivered by HCC Property Services.

In order to choose the schools most in need of toilet refurbishment, information was taken from existing condition surveys which implements a fair scoring method for prioritising the toilets in the worst condition.

Property Services had previously carried out research as to how they could reduce costs for pupil toilet refurbishment projects but maintain a suitable standard of quality. This included liaison with internal departments, suppliers and a review of historic projects, and resulted in Property Services producing a new standard specification to streamline the refurbishments so that toilet projects at individual schools were not bespoke, in terms of style and design, but used similar products.

This project involved the complete refurbishment of seven pupil toilets across three sites in six weeks, and included areas being completely striped, and items disposed of. The contractor commissioned a CCTV survey of all drainage routes to check for defects, and following rectification, commenced works to reinstate the pupil toilets which included items such as:

• Anti-slip vinyl flooring
• Hygienic wall cladding in high-risk splash areas
• New laminate cubicles, including one ambulant, accessible cubicle with outward opening door and hand rail
• New laminate vanity tops around the sinks, with taps with anti-locking nuts to reduce damage
• New fire doors installed or maintained as required following consultation with the HCC Fire Team.

The pupil toilet refurbishments were designed to be inclusive and accessible and were reviewed by the HCC Access Team. The colour schemes complied with Light Reflectance Values to enable those with visual impairments to see contrasting colours on different elements of the room, such as doors and walls being painted different colours.