Princecroft Primary School has just completed a phased refurbishment and extension. Box Twenty Consulting Engineers have been involved as the mechanical and electrical design consultants from RIBA Stage 2 through to on-site monitoring.

We have undertaken surveys to assess the condition and extent of existing building services and have also designed modifications to site-wide utilities to suit the new proposals.

The new extension was designed to be serviced from new plant to allow it to be operated outside of normal school opening hours. To minimise capital expenditure the existing LED luminaires were retained and the lighting layout redesigned to suit the new internal layout before being reinstalled. Similarly many of the heat emitters were retained for reinstallation.

The central plant was retained and heating, hot and cold water distribution modified or replaced to provide a more efficient distribution system. Rooflights were replaced for openable units to aid natural ventilation and to mitigate overheating.

Box Twenty undertook thermal modelling of the building in order to determine the risk of overheating in the classrooms which also influenced the window / roof-light opening strategies for the building.

Once we had completed our designs we were retained in a Client-side monitoring role reviewing Contractors proposals and attending monthly site inspections. This was to review and comment on the quality of the installations and to confirm that works on site were proceeding in accordance with the original design intent.

The project was handed over on time and is now fully in use.

The Council and the School were really pleased with the hall extension, which is designed to be used out of hours by the wider Community.