Kier – Astrea Academy
Working closely with the Kier team for in excess of two years, we are proud to have completed one of our most complicated and challenging projects to date.
Peter Laskowski and Sean Hammond were project managers on the recently completed Astrea Academy primary and secondary school project in Sheffield. The project has recently been nominated for a Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Award and on 23 April the project was completed, and the school opened to new pupils. Here, Peter explains the project, which included the refurbishment and restoration of a Grade II listed building.
“Astrea Academy is located in Burngreave, a deprived area in north east Sheffield, the aim of the school is to drive up educational standards and to help alleviate the pressure on school places in the city. It will accommodate children from the ages of 2-18 years-old and have an overall capacity of 1,200 pupils.
The school is split over two sites; the primary and secondary schools. The primary will house children up to year four and is based in the Grade II listed former Pye Bank School built in 1875. The secondary building accommodates children from Year 5 to sixth form, and with the primary block, will have a capacity of 1,200 children. This will ease the shortage of school places in the area”
The Davison team headed up by our operations director Darren Horbury collaborated with the Kier team from the outset of the project, and provided:-
Fully designed timber hoarding to secure the full site boundary
Bespoke security railings
CLD security mesh systems to the external boundaries and internal areas
Automated entrance gates and access controlled pedestrian gates
Timber picket fencing for the internal play areas
Guardrail systems to the numerous retaining walls and stairs
As Darren Horbury explains, “The most challenging aspect of the project was the site topography. With level issues on such a sloping site, our experience was invaluable to the Kier design team, and we worked tirelessly to provide solutions to all the aesthetic requirements of the Sheffield planners, whilst maintaining the fundamental requirements of safeguarding and security. Combined with an extremely tight programme, and difficult access restrictions, the project is a testament to our company’s “can do” attitude.
Bringing together a project in excess of £250k is something we are extremely proud of, and we hope the pupils and school users have full benefit from for many years to come.