Hampshire County Council Executive Member - Education Item16 13 July 2005 Rachel Madocks School, Waterlooville 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 extend, refurbish and improve accessibility and safety within the main school building and the Post-16 unit will have an immediate benefit for all users of the special school. Aim 5 - improving services: all users of the proposed new facilities will benefit from these proposals.

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

1	Summary
1.1	Rachel Madocks School is located within a residential area of Cowplain. There are currently 71 pupils (2-19 years) on roll. This Special School provides for pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) and Profound Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), pupils over 16 years being catered for in a special "Post-16" unit attached to the main school building.
1.2	Crossways, a residential property in Havant, which the school currently use for the social development of Post 16 pupils, is to be disposed of and the capital receipt will be used as a contribution to fund the refurbishment of the unit located within the school. In addition to this, the sale for residential development of part of the school site will generate further funds which will be used for new landscaping and hard play provision.
1.3	The attached project appraisal outlines proposals for works to refurbish and improve accessibility and safety within the main school building and the Post-16 unit. The estimated cost of this scheme is £310,000 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 reconfigure, refurbish and extend existing accommodation within the main school building and the Post-16 unit. These works include the provision of a new entrance porch on the east elevation, a new foyer and wheelchair store, new tutorial room, "domestic" lounge/dining area and kitchen. It is also proposed to provide adjacent the Post-16 unit a quiet room extension (subject to additional funding being made available). External proposals include landscape and hard play works and some additional planting to enhance the area. Full details of all these proposals can be found in the attached project appraisal.
3	Funding and Timing
3.1	It is anticipated that £165,000, excluding fees, will be available within the Capital Programme (05/06) on completion of a successful sale of Crossways and a contribution from the capital receipt from the school site sale. The School is making a contribution of £137,000, excluding fees and an allocation of £8,000, excluding fees, has been made in the Policy and Resources Capital Repairs budget (05/06).
3.2	Subject to the necessary approvals it is anticipated that tenders will be invited during August 2005, work will commence on site during October 2005 and be completed during March 2006.
4	Consultation with Local Member
4.1	Councillor John West, the local Member for this area, has been consulted on the proposals outlined in the project appraisal and is supportive of this scheme.
Conclusion
The proposals outlined will improve accessibility within the Post-16 unit. The internal refurbishment will generally improve the school's facilities, particularly within the food technology and therapy areas.
Recommendation
That the Executive Member for Education approves the design project appraisal for the Rachel Madocks school, at an estimated cost of £310,000, excluding fees.

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

Executive Member - Education

13 July 2005

Project:	Rachel Madocks School, Waterlooville
	Extension and internal alteration/refurbishment/repair works
Commencement date:	October 2005
Completion date:	March 2006
Planned year of start in accordance with Capital Programme:		2005/06

Recommendation:

That the building design project appraisal for the Rachel Madocks School scheme

be approved.

1 Finance

Capital Expenditure	Current Estimate £'000	Capital Programme £'000
Buildings	310	165
Fees	42	25
Land to be purchased	-	_
Total	* 352	190

* 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 (as above) (tbc)	165	25	190
b) School	137	15	152
2 From Other Resources:
a) Policy and Resources Capital Repairs budget (05/06)	8	2	10
Total	310	42	352

Building Cost - Net Cost = £1,621 per m²

- Gross Cost = £2,038 per m²

Devolved Capital allocations £'000

2004/05 23

2005/06 24

2006/07 28 (estimate)

2007/08 29 (estimate)

Total 104

Landlord funded work connected with this scheme

An allocation has been made in the Policy and Resources Capital Repairs budget (05/06) towards the cost of an underpinning repair to an existing foundation.

Value of land already acquired for this project

The land forming the site of the development is an integral part of the school campus and is incapable of disposal in isolation. The land was acquired at historic cost and its current value to the County Council is as part of the ground of the establishment.

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	Nil	Nil	Nil	18	18
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 £1,336 per year (£4.50 per m²) of new accommodation, an additional 11 tonnes of CO2.

2 Details of site and existing infrastructure

Location/adjoining land and buildings

Rachel Madocks School is located in a residential area of Cowplain and is bounded by Eagle Avenue to the west, by playing fields to the east with housing beyond, and by housing to the north and south. The Woodlands Centre (Pupil Referral Unit [PRU]) is located to the east of the main school buildings.

Area including comparison with local/national standards

The total site area is 2.5 acres (1 hectare). The DfES guideline for a school of this size is 1.85 acres (0.75 hectares).

Access

Vehicular and pedestrian access to the school and to the PRU is from Eagle Avenue, to the west of the site. For the duration of the proposed works, the contractor's access will be from the newly-formed road off Hemlock Road.

Existing buildings and temporary buildings

The main building is of single-storey SCOLA construction, with a similar Post-16 Unit connected by a link corridor. A hydrotherapy pool extension was constructed in 1990. Other buildings, such as minibus garages and stores, are separate from the main building. There are no temporary buildings on site and none are required for this scheme.

Results of trial boreholes

A previous excavation revealed stiff to very stiff grey and mottled brown clay to the northern trial hole and a gravely clay with flints to the southern trial hole. No ground water was encountered.

Foundations for the two new extensions and canopy structure are to be mass concrete trench fill foundations, with increased depths in the vicinity of existing trees.

An underpinning repair is to be undertaken to the northeast corner of the site to repair an existing foundation.

Mains services position

The existing mains services are considered to be of sufficient capacity to be extended and adapted as required to serve the proposed additional accommodation.

3 Scope of the Project

Type of project, layout and facilities provided

This scheme will provide the following accommodation:

Post-16 Unit

· entrance porch on south elevation and automatic bi-fold doors

· foyer and wheelchair store

· tutorial room

· quiet room next to foyer

· quiet room extension to existing Key Stage 4 classroom (not included in costs at present; subject to additional funding).

· domestic lounge/dining area and kitchen

· wet room

· store off corridor

Main school building

Works to the existing main school building include alterations to the existing food technology classroom to allow extended wheelchairs to circulate, alterations to the existing soft play room to provide more space for wheelchairs and improved wheelchair storage off the central corridor.

An extension into the courtyard area located centrally within the school buildings will provide a new interactive studio, allowing a variety of activities to run at one time, and a new deputy head's room with an external window to replace the existing internal room.

Fire Safety

The existing fire alarm system is to be updated and fire compartmentation works carried out to the Post-16 unit and main building in the areas affected by the project works.

Places provided

This scheme will not provide any additional pupil places at the school.

4 The Proposed Building

Type of construction, finish and appearance

The infill courtyard extension and the quiet room extension (subject to funding) will be constructed of traditional brick and block cavity walls with a high-performance roof. Windows and doors will be aluminium, all to complement existing.

Accessible facilities

The existing Special School has been constructed with level access throughout and the extensions will continue this theme. A new ramped entrance will be formed to the Post-16 unit.

Heating and ventilation systems

The existing heating systems will be extended to serve the new areas, which will be heated by low-surface temperature radiators. The existing fan convectors will be re-used in the refurbished areas of the building.

The new areas will generally have natural ventilation (opening windows). Local extract ventilation will be provided to those areas where natural ventilation is inappropriate or not practical.

Fire risk assessment

A fire risk assessment concluded this to be a low fire risk building and therefore a sprinkler system will not be installed. However, the assessment recommends updating the existing fire alarm and providing fire compartmentation to the Post-16 Unit and main building. The fire alarm and compartmentation works will be carried out in the Post-16 unit, together with parts of the main building, which are affected by the project.

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, have been undertaken for the proposed scheme

5 External Works

Car parking

There will be no changes to the existing car parking provision.

Landscape proposals

A new 2.5 metre wide landscape screen will be formed to the new boundary on the side of the site, which has been sold off for development. A new hard play area will be formed to the east of the site to replace that lost through the sale of land. The existing planting within the site will separate the new hard play area from existing grassed areas.

Situation on site and environmental impact

The proposed extension works are located centrally within the school buildings and are not visible from outside the site. The landscape works previously referred to will serve to separate the school buildings from the proposed residential development to the south and southeast of the site.

6 Planning

The Environment Department has confirmed that these works are classed as permitted development.

7 Building management

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

8 Furniture and equipment

An allocation will be made from the Education capital programme 2006/07.

9 Professional resources

Architectural Services } Studio Four Architects

Quantity Surveying } Selway Joyce

Electrical and Mechanical Engineering } EDP

Structural Engineering } Evans Grant

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.