Pupils at Oakfield Primary School in Rugby, Warwickshire have returned after their half-term break to study at the UK’s first Sunesis standardised school.
Willmott Dixon and Scape launched the innovative new school range last year in response to the government initiated James Review, which highlighted the need for greater efficiency in school building projects.
Driving efficiency through the standardisation of design is the key objective of the Sunesis brand. It delivers pre-designed primary and secondary schools at a fixed price and aims to cut the construction costs of new schools by up to 30 per cent.
The 1950s-built Oakfield Primary urgently needed to expand due to many classes using temporary accommodation. The original plan was to extend the school at a cost of around £2 million. By procuring a Sunesis pre-designed school, Warwickshire County Council achieved a new education facility that was built in 32 weeks for £2.2 million, excluding site preparation costs.
The Keynes model school achieves ‘A’ rating for energy performance. According to Willmott Dixon’s estimates, the annual energy consumption is expected to be 65 kW/hr/m2 compared with the DEC benchmark of 190 kW/hr/m2 per year. Annual carbon emissions are estimated at 31 kg CO2/m2 against the DEC benchmark of 49.36 kg CO2/m2 per year.
John Harmon, assets strategy manager at Warwickshire County Council said: “Rather than try and make do and mend, for a little bit more we got something much better – a modern flexible teaching and learning space which minimises its impact on the environment both now and in the future. And we got it quickly too which saved money.”
Mark Robinson, chief executive officer at Scape said: “This is a real milestone – not just for Oakfield Primary and Warwickshire County Council, but also for the construction and education sectors. In partnership with Willmott Dixon, we’re pioneering a new approach to delivering high quality and affordable schools across the UK.”
Since the construction of Oakfield Primary began back in February, Southampton City Council and the Isle of Wight have also opted for Sunesis schools and more are going through the planning stage.
