Hampshire County Council Executive Member - Education Item 12 13 July 2005 Executive Member - Policy and Resources 14 July 2005 Blackfield Primary School Report by the Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

How the conclusion in this report fits with the Corporate Strategy This scheme will impact on the delivery of all Corporate Aims, focusing most immediately on: Aim 1 - maximising life opportunities: the proposal to provide a 2.5FE foundation Primary School will have an immediate benefit for the existing Infant and Junior Schools and the local community. Aim 5 - improving services: by improving educational services and making the best use of resources.

Contact: Steve Clow Ext: 7858 e-mail: [email protected]

1	Summary
1.1	A review of primary school provision in the east New Forest area recommended the closure of Blackfield Infant School with effect from 31 August 2006 and the formation of a 540 place, foundation primary school within the Blackfield Junior School building with effect from 1 September 2006. This recommendation was approved by the Executive Member for Education on 7 June 2004 as part of the reorganisation of primary school provision in the east New Forest area.
1.2	Following the review it was concluded that the Blackfield Infant School site be sold for residential development, subject to planning consents, and the resultant capital receipt be used to cover part of the cost of the scheme. A separate planning application is being made to New Forest District Council (NFDC) for planning permission to develop the infant school site for residential use. The County Education Officer is currently awaiting a decision from the DfES for a Section 77 agreement for change of use from Education to residential development.
1.3	The total estimated cost of the scheme to provide a 2.5FE Primary school, by way of extending and remodelling the existing Blackfield Junior School building is £1,250,000, excluding fees.
1.4	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 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 southern elevation of the existing Junior school building, on an area of existing play court. The extension will provide four Infant classrooms, library, dedicated Infants entrance and associated ancillary accommodation.
2.2	It is proposed to reorganise the existing main entrance to the site and rearrange the car parking around a new access road and coach turning circle. New pedestrian paths will be created to separate vehicles from pedestrians and improve site safety.
2.3	An advanced enabling package of work is required for the installation of a new electrical mains supply as the existing supply currently runs under the proposed building extension footprint and the new supply will come down the main entrance access road. This new supply has to be put in place outside term time and prior to the main building works in order for the school to continue to function without major disruption. As the other mains services, i.e. gas, water and data/telephone will also be re-routed and laid together in the same service trench the opportunity will be taken to do these works during the 2005 school summer holidays.
2.4	A dedicated Infant playground will be provided adjacent the new Infant accommodation along with an enclosed Reception playground. The Junior playground, lost to the new extension, will be re-provided adjacent the Junior accommodation. Further details on the extent of the works can be found in the attached design project appraisal.
2.5	The Infant School currently has a pre-school unit attached to it and consideration has been given in the development of the design for the future provision of a pre-school / nursery unit on the Primary school site. The plans show the nursery unit as a further extension to the south of the proposed new Infant extension. No funding is currently available for this element of work and consideration will be given by the County Education Officer and a report brought to a future Executive Member meeting.
3	Funding and Timing
3.1	The estimated cost of the scheme outlined in this report is £1,250,000, excluding fees. Of this amount, it is anticipated that £1,185,000, excluding fees, will come from the Education Capital Programme. The County Education Officer will front fund the work until such time that the land has been successfully sold. A contribution of £65,000, excluding fees, will come from the school.
3.2	Subject to the necessary approvals it is anticipated that tenders for the main works will be invited during July 2005 and the main works will commence on site during November 2005 and be completed during September 2006.
3.3	The advance enabling works for the new electric, gas, water and data/telephone supplies will require negotiation with a single contractor at an estimated cost of £50,000. Approval to this course of action is currently being sought.
3.4	The main work will be undertaken in two phases. The new extension will be constructed first to allow the Infant aged pupils to move into their new accommodation. Following this the existing Infant School kitchen will be demolished (to be undertaken under a separate contract) in order that the new access road, turning circle and car parking can be constructed.
4	Consultation with Local Member
4.1	Councillor Dunsdon, the local Member for this area, has been consulted on the proposals outlined in this design project appraisal.
Conclusion
The proposals to provide a 2.5FE Blackfield Primary school by extending and remodelling the existing Blackfield Junior School building will address the current surplus places and future predicted falling rolls at these schools, whilst providing new and improved accommodation for pupils and staff of the school.
Recommendation
That the Executive Member for Education advises the Executive Member for Policy and Resources that the design project appraisal for the scheme at Blackfield foundation Primary School, at an estimated cost of £1,250,000, excluding fees, be approved.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

Title Location

Architect's plans PMIS file

Building Profile Reports TMH

Hampshire County Council

Building Design Project Appraisal

Buildings, Land and Procurement Panel

30 June 2005

Executive Member - Education

13 July 2005

Executive Member - Policy and Resources

14 July 2005

Project:	Blackfield Primary School
	Extension and remodelling of Blackfield Junior School to create a 2.5FE Primary School
Commencement date:	November 2005
Completion date:	September 2006
Planned year of start in accordance with Capital Programme:		2005/06

Recommendation:

That the building design project appraisal for the Blackfield Primary School scheme be approved.

1 Finance

Capital Expenditure	Current Estimate £'000	Capital Programme £'000
Buildings	1,250	1,185
Fees	200	190
Land to be purchased	_	_
Total	* 1,450	1,375

* The means by which the difference between the Current Estimate and the Capital Programme

allocation is to be met is shown in the table below.

Financial Provision for Total Scheme	Buildings £'000	Fees £'000	Total cost £'000
1 From own Resources:
a) Capital Programme (05/06)	1,185	190	1,375
b) School	65	10	75
Total	1,250	200	1,450

Building Cost - Net Cost = £1,696 per m²

- Gross Cost = £2,633 per m²

Devolved Capital allocations - Infant School £'000

2004/05 22

2005/06 22

Devolved Capital allocations - Junior School

2004/05 33

2005/06 32

Estimated Devolved Capital allocations - Primary School

2006/07 62

2007/08 52

Total 223

Landlord funded work connected with this scheme

There is no Landlord funded work associated with these proposals.

Value of land already acquired for this project

Blackfield Junior School site is vested in the Governing Body, having been statutorily transferred to them in 1993 on obtaining Grant Maintained status.

Revenue implications

	(a) Employees £'000	(b) Other £'000	(a+b) Net Current Expenditure £'000	(c) Capital Charges £'000	(a+b+c) Total Net Expenditure £'000
Revenue Implications Additional+ /Reductions	- 82	- 54	- 136	76	- 60
Unit cost (£) (e.g. per place)	-	-	-	-	-
% variation to Committee's budget	-				-
Number of additional Staff (fte)	-				-

Energy costs

The estimated annual energy consumption for the new accommodation will meet that required by current Building Regulations. It is anticipated that the increase in fuel cost for the school will be in the order of £3,808 per year (£4.90 for each m² of new accommodation) with an additional 21 tonnes of CO2.

2 Details of site and existing infrastructure

Location/adjoining land and buildings

The Infant and Junior Schools share a site located to the north west of Blackfield. To the north and west are open fields with the village of Holbury further to the north. The east of the site is bounded by Hampton Lane with housing beyond and to the south is further housing and Blackfield village centre.

Area including comparison with local/national standards

The total site area is 6.72 acres (2.71 hectares). The scheme will result in an additional 0.36 acres (0.14 hectares) being added to this site from the existing infant school area.

The DfES guideline for a school of this size is 5.58 acres (2.26 hectares).

Access

There are currently three vehicular and pedestrian entrance points to the shared site along the eastern boundary of the site from Hampton Lane. It is proposed that the new Primary School will retain one entrance point at the very north east corner, which will enable greater security and the control of pedestrians onto the site. The existing road access will be retained and will be widened on the southern side to allow a two way road (currently a single road). A narrowing to the access road is proposed, as a traffic calming measure, encouraging vehicles to slow down.

A new pedestrian route is proposed alongside the vehicular access. Car parking is to be located adjacent the pedestrian route with bollards positioned to prevent cars encroaching onto the verge. These proposals offer further separation of vehicles from pedestrians.

A vehicle turning circle is proposed at the top of the access road to allow vehicles, especially coaches, to always turn in the same direction, thus offering greater safety to pedestrians. A separate new access to the rear of the proposed new Infant accommodation will be constructed for use by emergency vehicles.

During the construction period the contractor will have sole use of the southern most vehicular entrance from Hampton Lane, with direct access to a compound located adjacent the proposed new accommodation.

Existing buildings and temporary buildings

The original Junior school was constructed in 1958 and has since been extended by way of a SCOLA teaching block in 1970's and more recently in the 1990's, an administration accommodation extension and a new classroom block. There are no temporary buildings on the site.

Results of trial boreholes

A site investigation is currently being undertaken and results will be known in due course. Previous investigations undertaken at this site for previous phases of work have recommended the use of traditional strip foundations.

Mains services position

The external services to the existing Junior School are inadequate to serve the proposed Primary School. It is therefore proposed that a new electrical cable is brought to the site via the main entrance from Hampton Lane.

The schools currently operate with oil heating. The extension will be heated with a gas fired boiler independent from the main school boilers. A new gas supply will be laid in the access road to serve the proposed extension with sufficient capacity to provide gas for replacement of the existing oil system. It is intended that the old boilers which are nearing the end of their life be replaced in the future under a separate contract.

3 Scope of the Project

Type of project, layout and facilities provided

A single storey extension to the southern elevation of the existing Junior School building will provide:

· four Infant classrooms

· library

· dedicated Infants entrance

· link to existing main building

· staff toilets

· male and female pupil toilets

· toy store

· cloak areas

· cleaner and caretaker's stores.

The new extension will offer covered external play areas linked to the Infant classrooms, offering shelter from rain and sun, thus allowing continued outside activities all year round.

Places provided

Following the amalgamation of the infant and junior schools the net capacity assessment for the primary school will be 540 places.

4 The Proposed Building

Type of construction, finish and appearance

The classroom and staffroom extension will be single storey. External walls are facing bricks with a shallow pitched standing seam metal roof. Windows will be aluminium polyester powder coated. It is designed to complement the most recent extensions to the school.

The roof will have a significant overhang to the glazed elevations to provide shade and covered external areas.

Accessible facilities

The new accommodation will have level access with ramps provided where necessary. An accessible toilet will be provided in the new accommodation.

Heating and ventilation systems

The extension will be served by a new gas-fired boiler independent of the existing boiler, which does not have the capacity to heat the proposals and is nearing the end of its life. Underfloor heating is proposed for the extension. Extract ventilation will be provided to the toilets.

Fire risk assessment

In consultation with the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, a fire risk assessment concludes that this is a low fire risk category building. Therefore a sprinkler system will not be installed.

Health and safety

A designer's risk assessment and a design health and safety plan, in accordance with Regulation 15 of the Construction Design and Management Regulations 1994, is currently being undertaken for the proposed scheme.

5 External Works

Car parking

Car parking will be located alongside the new access road to the north of the site. A total of 57 car parking spaces will be provided which includes two new disabled car parking bays.

Landscape proposals

The proposed new extension will be constructed on an area of existing play court which will be re-provided to the south west of the Junior building and will become a dedicated Junior playground. The Infant playground will be designated on an existing play area to the east of the new extension along with new play areas for reception aged pupils to the west, which will enclosed by fencing for greater security.

A new parent waiting area will be established in a space between the Infant and Junior accommodation with pedestrian links to the main site entrance.

As detailed earlier in this report the entrance and parking will be reconfigured and associated landscaping will include planting of new trees and low level shrubs to help define vehicular and pedestrian areas and to improve the frontage to the school.

New fencing and planting will be implemented along the boundary with the site designated for residential development.

Situation on site and environmental impact

The new accommodation will be positioned to the south of the existing building away from any roads. New trees and plants will be included around the site to help soften the building and enhance its setting.

6 Planning

A detailed planning application was submitted to the Director of Environment during April 2005 and the results will be known in June 2005.

7 Building management

Existing arrangements will apply to cleaning, catering, local management and maintenance arrangements.

8 Furniture and equipment

Any furniture and equipment requirements to be identified will be funded from the block vote in the Education Capital Programme.

9 Professional resources

Architectural Services } Property, Business and Regulatory

Quantity Surveying } "

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering } "

Structural Engineering } WSP

Landscape Architect } RPS

10 Consultations

The following have been consulted during the development of the project: Headteacher and Governors of the school, County Education Officer, Environment Department, Access Officer, local County Councillor, Fire and Rescue Officer.