Earlham Primary School

While the original school building required renovation due to numerous internal issues, funding for the project was only available if the building was rebuilt, with a minimum lifespan of 40-50 years. The project team therefore faced the reality of building the new state of the art facilities during a single school year, on a very constrained site, without disrupting the work of the students and teachers.

The teams met this challenge by constructing a temporary school playground and choosing an offsite modular construction method. By specifying the Corium brick cladding system, the project benefited from the systems suitability for offsite solutions, while meeting its lifespan requirements.

As part of the 40-50 year lifespan requirement and with futureproofing in mind, a number of innovative and sustainability focused measures were implemented into the school build. These included the installation of Photovoltaics to provide 20% of the building’s energy and a projecting metal brise soleil in order to provide shade and reduce overheating to the rooms behind.

The complete building has been carefully designed and future proofed for the retrofitting of cooling installations, which may be necessary to prevent overheating and resilience if global temperatures continue to rise. The building will now achieve a 29.00% betterment in terms of CO² reductions, an A rated EPC and a BREEAM Rating of ‘Very Good’.

As a specialist in school projects, main contractors Spatial Initiative were chosen for their expertise and ability to reduce the impact on the children and staff during the Earlham Primary School build. Having previously worked with Taylor Maxwell and the Corium brick cladding system, the team were able to specify the cladding product again, confident that it would work quickly and seamlessly with the chosen modular construction method.

Not only did the modular build successfully reduce the number of vehicles accessing the site but it also reduced noise and provided a quicker build. Once constructed offsite, delivery and installation of the modular units was completed in under two weeks.

The brick slip system was used for the brickwork finish across the front elevation, containing the visitor entrance and forming the main street façade, so that it would match and complement the architecture of the surroundings. A palette of white, blue and yellow external render and metalwork was incorporated to add colour and variation to the facade, with these colours also taken into the internal finishes to unify the building.

To find out more about the Corium Brick Cladding system and how it can benefit your project, click here.