Hampshire County Council

Education Buildings Advisory Group

1 October 2002

Executive Member, Policy & Resources

16 October 2002 Item

Bridgemary Community School, Gosport

Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

1

Summary

1.1

Bridgemary Community School is a mixed school for pupils aged 11 - 16 located in the north of Gosport. The school was constructed in 1959 and extensions have been added during the 1980's and 1990's with the most recent phase of development, to provide a music/drama suite and refurbished science laboratories, being completed in 2000.

1.2

A rise in pupil numbers is forecast from September 2003 and accordingly an allocation of £588,000, excluding fees, has been made in the Education Committee's 2002/03 capital programme for a scheme to provide 100 Basic Need new places. In addition to this a sum of £172,000, excluding fees, is included within this project to enhance the ICT facilities being provided. The Local Public Service Agreement (LPSA) is funded from unsupported credit approval secured through the agreement in support of the LPSA targets of the school. The school has made a contribution of £56,000 excluding fees towards these works and within these allocations the sum of £80,000, excluding fees, has been retained for works to the courtyard which is currently on site. This course of action has been agreed by the County Education Officer.

1.3

The Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services has progressed the design of the proposed additional accommodation and the purpose of this report is to outline the design proposals and financial framework and seek approval to the attached design project appraisal.

2.

Scope of the Works

2.1

It is proposed to construct a single storey extension to the northern elevation of one of the existing buildings on site. The new building will provide a library, office, store room, locker area, entrance lobby, inner lobby, assisted WC, male and female WC. The library will have an IT area, TV and video resource area, reading area, shelving and display units.

2.2

Adjacent to the new library building are the existing music spaces and it is proposed to convert three classrooms for specialist ICT use. This will include opening up the classrooms to provide access to the new library and the creation of a new ICT office. The scheme will also include the provision of mechanical ventilation and comfort cooling to the ICT classrooms. At the request of the school the fit out of the ICT classrooms will be undertaken by the school under a separate contract.

2.3

A second smaller extension will be constructed to the northern elevation of the existing dining hall. The single storey extension is to provide increased floor area to enable more pupils to use the dining facility.

2.4

A separate scheme to remodel the large courtyard adjacent to the location of the proposed new library is underway on site. This area was prone to flooding and excessive wear to the grassed area and these have been addressed. The new courtyard has a large central hard paved area which the school will use for pupils to gather at break times as well as being available for community use outside school hours. The courtyard also has grassed areas, trees, planting and seating areas. The new library will enclose the western edge of the existing courtyard and a further courtyard area will be created to the northern elevation of the library. A number of existing trees have been removed and will be replaced with more suitable species. A third small courtyard will be formed between the new library and the ICT classrooms which will allow natural light and ventilation to both of these spaces.

3.

Funding and Timing

3.1

An allocation of £588,000, excluding fees, has been made in the Education Committee's 2002/03 capital programme to provide an additional 100 basic need new places at this school. A further amount of £172,000, excluding fees, has been added from a Local Public Service Agreement and the school have contributed £56,000 excluding fees, towards the works. Following the retention of £80,000, excluding fees, for the courtyard contract the balance of £736,000, excluding fees, is available for the proposals outlined in this design project appraisal.

3.2

It is anticipated that the scheme will be tendered during October/November 2002 and works will commence on site during January 2003 and be completed during August 2003.

Conclusion

The proposed scheme will provide the required additional basic need accommodation for the projected rise in pupil numbers from September 2003 and will address elements of the recent OFSTED report. Approval is accordingly sought to the attached building design project appraisal.