SciTec Gets Ready for the First Pupils (June 07)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction News - 20th April 2007

SciTec Phase 1 has reached the home straight. In just over seven weeks the building should be occupied

for the first time. Much finishing work is being undertaken, oak doors being installed, corridor lighting fitted and service connections being made.
The elaborate and, in engineering terms, complex stone west staircase is in place.
There are over 10,000m of conduit in the building and many times that length of wiring.

The exterior scaffolding on the handsome north elevation has been removed and the lake bowl dug out. A felt liner will be followed by an impervious layer to form the lake bed.
The material dug to form the lake will then be used to augment the level playing surface produced by previous excavations. The lake itself, once established, will have a wide planted margin of reeds and other aquatic plants.

 

Bob Briggs

Second Master

 

Construction News - 26th February 2007

The roof of SciTec now sports a greenhouse and the skylight, which runs the full length of the building, has been fully glazed, giving a light and airy feeling to the circulation areas. Four very large planters have been added to the roof and preparation for the installation of photovoltaic arrays has begun. The new observatory is currently being assembled and the various chimneys are being coated in a bronze coloured metal cladding.
Inside the building vinyl floors have been laid in the two prep rooms and the fitting out process is well under way.  Laboratory floors are also being laid, most of the wiring and other services are now in place and practical benches will be delivered in early March ready for installation.

There is a real sense of acceleration in the programme. External glazing is more or less complete and internal glazing of the laboratories will begin shortly. All of the necessary framework is in place and once glazing is complete the internal appearance of SciTec will be transformed. Floors in the downstairs circulation areas have been laid and toilets tiled.  The complex west staircase will be created in the next two weeks.

Bob Briggs

Second Master

 

 

2006

Construction in the Week of 4th December

Progress on SciTec continues at a pace. The external stone cladding now extends half way up the building and external window frames are being installed. The roof

build-up of waterproof layers is well advanced and all the extract chimneys, the lift overrun and the access points to the roof staircase are complete. The west staircase itself is taking shape. Inside the building a huge amount of progress has been made on the installation of services. The underfloor heating cables in the corridors have also been laid and the floors screeded. Sanding down of the fair-faced concrete walls is well advanced. In the next two weeks the complicated connection to the existing Needham Physics Department will also be completed. The Biology and Chemistry staff have toured the building and been impressed by its scale and layout. It is increasingly apparent what a majestic addition SciTec will be to the Home Close.

Bob Briggs

Second Master

 

 

Construction in the Week of 30th October

The roof slab is now complete and basic waterproofing has begun. Extract chimneys and the lift overrun have also been built. Inside the building, installation of the services is now progressing with large lengths of copper pipe, service ducts and trunking making an appearance.

Externally the walls are being clad in stone. Hard, water-resistant Ancaster limestone, quarried north east of Grantham in Lincolnshire, forms the lower layer and Clipsham stone, quarried north east of Oakham in Rutland provides the upper layers. Each piece of stone has been carefully cut and numbered to fit in a precise position. The stonework is separated from the external concrete frame by a thick layer of insulating material. It was always the intention of architects Feilden Clegg Bradley that the source of suitable stone should be as local as possible to minimise transport distances, just a small part of the overall "green" theme of the project.

From this point onwards a huge amount of work will go on inside the building as the installation of services is a considerable task. Additionally the glazed roof which runs the full length of the circulation corridor will be created and work will begin on the waterproof membrane which forms the basis of the "green" roof.

 

Construction in the Week of 2nd October

The SciTec project has advanced significantly since summer. The first floor slab is complete, most of the concrete walls on the upper floor have been cast and a substantial part of the roof slab is in place. Support steelwork for the large glazed areas on the north elevation has been installed.

Now that much of the internal shuttering and other support work has been removed the purpose and effect of the light-well in the heart of the building has become clear and the scale of the building much more apparent. Display areas are vital and the building's design lends itself to imaginative possibilities.

There has been little, if any, interference from the weather. Next week the process of cladding the building in Clipsham Stone will begin.

 

Construction in the Week of 26th June

The latest trial concrete wall on the SciTec project has passed the quality test and so serious amounts of concrete will now appear on site to form the internal and external walls.

Several external concrete columns are already in place and their spacing gives some idea of the area of glass that each laboratory will have.

There are vast amounts of steel reinforcement work on view at the west end of the

building and large areas of shuttering in place ready for the concrete pouring.

 

Over the next few weeks there will be a dramatic change in the appearance of the site and by the end of August there will be a very substantial structure in place.

 

Construction in the Week of 12th June

The last of the substructure concrete, adjacent to the Needham building, is being poured today, 15th June, (400 tons again). Close inspection of the site reveals the clear outline of labs, prep rooms and corridors. Large amounts of steel reinforcement have been assembled on site and built up from the foundations. Alongside Palmer there is a large area of concrete formwork where a sample wall, subsequently part of the toilet area, will be poured for inspection of the finished surface quality. All the interior walls are fair-faced concrete and the quality of finish is hugely important.

 

Today there are two mobile cranes on site and the huge mobile arm necessary to get the concrete from each delivery truck into the distant parts of the foundations. We still await the high capacity tower crane being manufactured abroad for Willmott Dixon.

 

 

Construction in the Week of 22nd May

Despite heavy rain in the past week, the construction of Phase 1 of SciTec has continued without interruption, apart from a short break during Chemistry A level practicals. Foundation work for the

outer walls of the building and for the retaining wall of the adjoining lake has progressed rapidly.  The outline of the building is now clearly defined and strikingly emphasises the scale of the development. Much in-fill work is in progress and, adjoining the foundations about two thirds of the way down the site, a large concrete base has been created to enable the erection of a tower crane on the weekend of 3rd/4th June.

Additional material from digging foundations has supplemented the

rubble from the demolition of the old squash courts and some further re-profiling of the Home Close has been completed. In due course the material between the temporary road and the external wall of the building will be excavated to create the lake basin and the removed material will contribute to further levelling of the Home Close. It will still be some months before the carefully removed topsoil can be redistributed on the levelled playing area.

Steel reinforcement for the substantial structure, with its high thermal mass, is evident throughout the site, and over the next few months hundreds of tons of concrete will be poured.

 

SciTec Site activity

[Posted May 11 2006]

SciTec Site activity

[Posted May 11 2006]

 

 

 

 

SciTec Ground Breaking

An exciting ceremony was held on April 25th to mark the start of work on Phase 1 of SciTec.

The traditional groundbreaking was performed by the Headmaster, Charlie Bush, from the controls of a

large mechanical excavator on the site of what will be a perfectly level sports pitch on the Home Close, adjacent to the new SciTec Building.

Assisting the Headmaster in the groundbreaking was Head of School, Ed Bury and Emma Wardall and

 Elizabeth Dorrell, representing Sanderson and Dryden.  Vice Chair of the Governing Body, Ian Schmiegelow and Ian McAlpine, Governor and Chairman of the SciTec Steering Committee were also in attendance, alongside representatives of the architects and contractor companies.

The ceremony provided an opportunity for the Headmaster to thank all the parties who have brought the SciTec project to fruition over a period of five years, including the Grocers Company, the Governing Body, Bob Briggs, Second Master who has led the project on behalf of the School and the Oundle Society who have managed the fundraising campaign for SciTec.

SciTec Phase 1, which comprises sixteen laboratories for the teaching of biology and chemistry, will be completed and ready for occupancy in Spring 2007.

 

An Easter Start for SciTec Phase 1

The SciTec project is witnessing its most exciting development to date.  Willmott Dixon Construction Limited have been appointed as contractors for SciTec Phase 1 and the end of March 2006 saw the first signs of pre-construction on site.  In summer 2005, work took place to re-route electricity cables in preparation for the start of the build and, currently, the contractor's site huts and plant machinery are arriving on site.

 

While staff and pupils are away on their Easter break, work began.  The old sqaush courts were demolished and footings were dug. When the Trinity Quarter began on Thursday 20th April, the scene on the Home Close will looked very different.  The site is now a hive of activity and has been securely fenced in order not to impact adversely on day-to-day School life.

Working alongside Wilmott Dixon are a world class team comprising Fielden Clegg Bradley, the Architects, Max Fordham, the Building Services Engineers, Jane Wernick Associates, the Structural Engineers and Churchman, the Landscape Architects.

Work on SciTec begins in a very important year for the School as Oundle is celebrating the 450th Anniversary of its founding.  The Headmaster, Mr Charles Bush, marked the start of work on SciTec with a Groundbreaking Ceremony on April 25th.  On September 16th, the School will host Festival Day, its major 450th Anniversary celebration in Oundle, and on this occasion there will be a stone laying ceremony for SciTec.

 

The Phase 1 building, which comprises sixteen laboratories for Chemistry and Biology, preparation rooms and an extensive circulation and display space, will be completed and ready for occupancy in Spring 2007.

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