Westbourne House School
Westbourne House School: Accommodation block and food technology room
With pupils clamouring to board at Westbourne House School and extra accommodation urgently required, when it came to choosing a builder, The Martin Sewell Building Company was the automatic choice. School bursar, Andrew Wilkinson explains: “MSBC made such an excellent job of the extension to our pre-prep building in 2011, that we had no hesitation in using our tried and trusted builder once again.”
In 2012, MSBC joined in a partnering arrangement with John Brown Architecture and the school to discuss budgets and the best construction method for the proposed new building, comprising two dormitory houses with a total of 30 beds, staff accommodation and a state-of-the-art food technology room.
Martin says: “We were involved right from the start and put forward the idea for an off-site manufacturing solution in the form of structural insulated panels (SIPs), manufactured by German-based firm, Streif. We realised that the project was urgent and knew this method would save the school time as well as being cost-effective.”
In March 2013, the pre-fabricated panels arrived on site and, within a fortnight the high-quality shell, complete with windows and doors, was erected.
“Our electricians and plumbers could then immediately start work on the inside of the building, while the bricklayers and roofers were able to work outside simultaneously,” says Martin.
In September 2013 the project was complete and ready for the boarders to start the new term in comfortable modern surroundings. The building has been well received by both its young occupants and the staff.
"We’re delighted with the final result which is a huge bonus to the school’s increased boarding capacity,” Andrew adds. “By repositioning the food technology room to the new building, we’ve been able to make a Physics laboratory so all the sciences are now under one roof which frees up a classroom elsewhere.
We wanted to create a modern but homely environment for the boarders and this was definitely achieved by Martin’s team.
It’s not always easy building in a school since, obviously, there is going to be a fair amount of noise and disruption. However, from past experience, we knew the company was very sensitive to these issues and we were confident that the builders would do their best to minimise the impact of the construction work on parents, resident staff and children during the school day.
Martin has a good team who work efficiently and produce great results. The latest addition to Westbourne House is a shining example of their professionalism.”
Andrew Wilkinson
