Cullum Centre, Canterbury

Sector: Education
Procurement: Traditional
Value: £Undisclosed
Client: The Canterbury Academy Trust
Services: Quantity Surveyor
Status: Complete

The project comprised the construction of a new teaching block to provide the school with 4 additional general teaching spaces to replace a dilapidated 1970 modular building. In addition to the GTA’s housed on the 1st floor, the ground floor will house specialist education accommodation for The National Autistic Society who co-funded the project. This will provide both parties with a purpose-built facility for supporting young people with autism whilst having the benefit of being within the larger school population of a highly successful education provider.

Due to cost and time constraints, we opted for a hybrid SIPS frame construction comprising insulated external wall and roof panels, internal partitions, precast upper floors and stairs all designed, supplied and installed by a single subcontractor. This had significant benefits in terms of programme as the package was manufactured off-site in 4 weeks, whilst the substructure was constructed and a further 8 weeks for installation of the superstructure frame.