Douay Martyrs Catholic School

						
							Solution						

							Temporary

						
							Project						

							Decant Classrooms

Client & Project Team Testimonials

Anthony Corish, Executive Headteacher, Douay Martyrs Catholic Secondary School

“We were very keen to minimise any interruption to the children’s learning from the redevelopment and following the pandemic, so providing a comprehensive facility for in-person teaching and social interaction were key priorities for the school.”

“Premier’s classrooms give us all the facilities we need for the next year, and pupils and staff were able to move in without any disruption to their education.”

David Williams, Project Manager, Morgan Sindall Construction

“This was a challenging project but Premier engaged in the design development and at every stage of the scheme. This meant that despite its complexities, the project went very smoothly. A lot of openness and collaboration was required between the two building suppliers, which they managed very well.”

BRIEF

Douay Martyrs Catholic Secondary School in Ickenham near Uxbridge, which has over 1,500 students, is undergoing an extensive refurbishment, part of which included a new single storey modular annex.

Decant teaching facilities to provide modular classrooms, science laboratories and SEN spaces were required to keep the school fully operational and minimise disruption to education while the main school building is refurbished.

The offsite solution

Premier was awarded the contract to supply the decant classrooms under a rental arrangement.

Limited space on site meant that the best location for this accommodation was on top of the new modular extension. This involved installation of the temporary facilities while the permanent building was under construction.

In total, 36 bespoke modules were installed on this highly constrained school site.

CHALLENGES

The scheme is located in a conservation area
Restricted access to the site
The buildings had to be installed on top of another modular building under construction
Collaboration was required with multiple stakeholders – the main contractor, a second modular building supplier, Department for Education and the school.

Benches in the play area next to modular classrooms.

Inside temporary classroom, small round tables surrounded by a circle of blue chairs.

the facility

The decant accommodation provided general classrooms, an IT suite, science laboratories with a shared preparation room, and spaces for special educational needs.

To provide access, Premier installed both a platform lift and internal staircases which interface seamlessly with the permanent building.

Premier also constructed a single storey ancillary building to provide interim school offices. This required temporary foundations and an accessible timber ramp.

minimising disruption

By providing the decant facilities under a bespoke rental arrangement, the Department for Education could provide the best possible learning environment for Douay Martyrs’ pupils during the school redevelopment.

The project was completed on time and budget with just three months on site. This enabled pupils and staff to move into the new classrooms and avoid any disruption to teaching and learning.

An unusual and complexed brief for our hire fleet, the Premier team took a flexible approach, delivering a bespoke decant building that serviced multiple faculties. The collaboration between the delivery team was extensive to ensure minimal disruption and optimal delivery from both sides.

This was a highly technical modular project, and winner of the 2023 MMC Awards for “Use of MMC Construction Methods in Temporary Accommodation”.

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