"school"

With the summer holidays approaching, many schools are thinking about repairing, replacing, or expanding on their existing lockers. The holidays are the perfect time to get these jobs done, as it’s much quicker for installers to work and they don’t get in the way of your students. Our team at Helmsman installed some brand new lockers at Leasowes High School in Halesowen during the last holiday break.The school requested metal lockers, with 4 compartments and without stands. Metal Lockers are a great option for schools, as they come in a variety of compartments, sizes and colours. Plus they are a budget friendly option, being the cheapest of our locker ranges.Our team manufactured 181 four compartment metal lockers for the project, with a bespoke sizing of 1925x300x450. Whilst our standard lockers at Helmsman are smaller than this, because we manufacture all of our products in house, to order, we can provide bespoke options tailored to your project.Our metal lockers are powder coated, with a standard body colour of Ice, and a wide range of door colours to choose from. Leasowes High School chose two colours; Royale blue and Pumpkin orange to match their school colour scheme. The lockers look great and really eye catching with the contrasting colours.The lockers were also manufactured with sloping tops. These are a fantastic addition to school lockers as it deters students from piling items on top of the lockers and stops clutter and rubbish collecting. The project was finished with camlocks, a simple yet effective lock option for schools, which can come with a master key option too.Get in touch today if you have a similar project, or if you want to chat with our sales team about your school lockers. Give us a call on 01284 530 427 or fill in our contact form here.

The residential school, in the hamlet of Peters Marland, just outside Great Torrington, offers residential provision for Year 6 to Year 11 male students from across Devon. The boys who attend have either a statement of special education needs or an education, health and care plan for social, emotional and mental health difficulties. The primary role of the school’s residential facility is to provide a safe, rewarding, and positive environment and they needed to build an additional building and refurbish existing residential facilities to achieve this. The school looked to danfloor to supply the carpet.

The Headteacher at a Crestwood School in Kingswinford envisaged a transformation of the unsightly dead space between the school buildings into a stunning area for social activity and quiet study. The environmental improvements would include raised planters, new surfacing and canopies.To create a coordinated feel, the Streetspace design team proposed a 6m wide Triton canopy between the two buildings to serve as both a covered walkway and dining space, and went beyond their brief to illustrate a plan for the external works, avoiding the need for the school to employ a separate specialist. This had to be scaled back somewhat to fit the budget, but the canopy with its timber post cladding to match the new furniture and raised planters is the focal point in what has been a very successful project for the school.

A&S Landscape was approached to install a Cyclo City covered bicycle store at Thameside Primary School in Essex. The idea was to encourage as many pupils and staff as possible to cycle to and from school.

London is a popular location for Versa Wall Pocket installations in the UK.The Versa Team recently visited Wetherby School in Kensington to install four single Wall Pocket dining systems in their multi-use hall – delivering seating for up to 80 students.The school chose custom graphics for the tables to reflect the school’s logo whilst also displaying the different school houses.Wall Pocket is an all-in-one dining system that stores into the wall requiring zero storage space yet delivering optimum capacity. Such flexibility is invaluable for schools where floor space is at a premium and storage limited or non-existent!The Versa Wall Pocket has given Wetherby the flexibility to convert its multi-use hall from an assembly/ sports hall into a dining hall in minutes.

The Blavatnik School of Government is a global school pursuing a vision of a world better led, a world better served and a world better governed. It is one of the newest and most vibrant departments of the University of Oxford. The school was founded in 2010, thanks to a £75 million donation by American philanthropist Leonard Blavatnik. We could not be prouder in working with this Educational Institute and installing our flagship INTRAflex XT Entrance Matting to prevent the ingress of dirt and moisture into such a stunning building.

Formed in 2006 after the amalgamation of the CBS Boys School and Convent Girls School, Scoil Phadraig National School is situated in the heart of Westport. Being the largest school in the town, it now provides education to over 300 children. The constant increase in the number of pupils enrolling at the school soon called for a new building to cater for all its students.

The Highland Council had used Junckers flooring for multiple projects previously and had come to rely on Junckers’ sports flooring systems. The Council’s brief for a new school, Merkinch Primary School and Family Centre in Inverness, included a high-performance sprung floor to BS EN 14904 level A4 which would perform well and continue to do so for many years to come. The ability to restore the floor multiple times to as-new condition without high maintenance costs was also a factor. Sustainability was high on the agenda for the entire project, the building was designed and built to be thermally efficient to reduce operational costs and offer an optimal learning environment. Significant focus was placed on reducing the embodied carbon of the project’s whole life carbon. Designed and built by Robertson Construction, the new school was realised using more sustainable methods of construction, ensuring optimal thermal performance and using sustainable materials, thus reducing operational costs for the school. Along with a glulam cross-laminated timber frame and shell, Junckers flooring with its A+ BRE Green Guide rating, contributed to the scheme. The new school includes a four-court multi-purpose hall fitted with 670m2 Junckers SylvaSport Beech flooring installed over UnoBAT 45 subfloor system by Junckers Approved Contractor Courtcraft. The floor is area elastic and fully complies with EN 14904 class A4, exceeding the specification requirements set by Sport England/Sport Scotland and the ESFA. Junckers solid maple flooring was also installed on tiered seating as well as a staircase in the open-plan common area. Flooring for education projects not only has to fulfil safety and performance standards, it now also has to has to adhere to strict environmental standards, including a proven 60+ years lifespan, recyclability and independently verified sourcing, manufacturing and transportation processes. Specifying a Junckers floor, be it for a school sports hall or elsewhere in a school building, fulfils the requirements set for funding purposes, confirmed by a list of independently verified accreditations, including EPDs, FSC®, PEFC and the Danish Indoor Climate Label. Junckers floors have a BREEAM rating of A+. 

Oakmeadow Primary School is one of the first Passivhaus primary schools in the UK. Designed by Architype architects, the school has a lightweight, super insulated timber frame to achieve Passivhaus airtightness, with a simplified load bearing stud wall, wrapped by an additional layer of insulation created by Larson trusses. A major contribution to the comfort of the occupants is the use of Troldtekt ceiling tiles in both classrooms and the sports hall. The tiles not only reduce reverberation time but also offer high performance acoustic absorption in areas, such as the teaching areas which need to be calm, studious & healthy.

Nottingham High School is an independent co-educational day school for children aged 4-18 in the heart of Nottingham. The school was founded in 1513 by Dame Agnes Mellers, and King Henry VIII sealed the school’s foundation deed in that same year. After more than 500 years of teaching boys, the school welcomed girls in 2015 to become a fully co-educational institution.For its vibrant Sixth Form, of more than 200 pupils, the school wanted to create a new social area, where students could meet, relax and eat lunch together. The school was looking for a statement canopy that created a significant focal point. But it also needed to be a functional structure for students that would provide shelter from the sun and act as a cover from the rain.The intended site is located close to the schools entrance, which is in the main building. This significant building is Grade II listed, so meeting the planning permission terms would be key. From the road, the location is visible in front of the building. Careful consideration had to be given to the design of any structure so that it did not obstruct the view of the school. It was also an essential part of the planning terms that the canopy should look open.Street space presented three options to the school. Functionality and appearance were important, but the tensile membrane structure also needed to fit within the schools budget.Meeting both the strict planning requirements and the broad scope of the brief demonstrated the strength of the Street space design team.An ORION Shield Fabric canopy was installed as part of an extensive landscaping project within the school that included constructing a retaining wall and removing a shed. The installation was completed extremely quickly. The team spent three days on site and fitted into the schools schedule of work. Fencing off the area allowed the existing school buildings to remain fully operational throughout the construction process and careful co-ordination with the head teacher ensured the continued smooth running of the school.Street space managed the concept design, engineering, manufacture and installation and met the schools deadline by completing the tensile canopy ahead of a scheduled open evening.The school is rightly proud of its new covered outdoor space. The covered dining and social space gives Sixth Form students an additional area that can be used whatever the weather. The previously unused area now benefits from a covered space with a durable canopy structure that protects from the elements and enhances this beautiful historic school.

The Bauder green roof on Sharrow Primary School in Sheffield was the first in the country to be declared a nature reserve. A fitting accolade for a school that defies traditional ideas of what a school should be.

The Wall Pockets have been a fantastic addition to this village school. With a small hall and limited space, the Wall Pockets allow the school to easily transform the space into a versatile area for learning and a space for dining according to their needs.Westcountry Group installed three single customised Wall Pocket dining systems in their multi-use hall, delivering seating for up to 60 students.The school chose a unique colour for the Wall Pocket case to match the school’s colour scheme. The clean, professional, and modern look of these tables really sets this hall apart from other schools in the area, making many quite envious!“We are now able to easily seat our whole school for mealtimes, and the children seem to respect and take greater care over them because they are so smart. This has transformed our lunchtimes and learning, giving our whole school community a real sense of pride in the Wall Pockets and school. The installation process was simple, clean, and efficient and staff have been incredibly knowledgeable and friendly, making the whole process of design, fitting, and user training very straightforward – even for a busy school team!”Ellie Watkins, Headteacher

Project:Aspire School Client: Kent County Council Contractor: BAM Construction Architect: Bond Bryan Value: £9m Location: Sittingbourne GIFA: 3,250m²  Need The Aspire School is a special, free school in Sittingbourne for children aged from 4 to 11 years. It was founded with an ambition to transform the opportunities of many young people with special education needs. The primary school was created to help meet the growing need for additional provision for children in Kent with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Condition (ASC) and severe speech and language difficulties (SSLD). Solution The design was developed using BIM Level 2 – in close collaboration by the architects and Grove Park Academies Trust – following an in-depth review of a number of SEN schools and their facilities. The aim was to achieve the most important objective: to create an environment that both inspires young people, and provides the ideal backdrop to nurture lifelong learning experiences for the children who learn there. Going beyond design excellence and embedding a holistic understanding of how buildings can enhance the day-to-day life of their users, as well as focusing on sustainable and environmentally-responsive design, was at the heart of this project. The Aspire School has been designed specifically around the needs of the children that will be attending, and it will provide an outstanding educational setting. Careful consideration has been given to all aspects of the design process to help promote engagement, wellbeing and achievement. Outcome The goal is that Aspire School will not only be an outstanding provision for the young people that attend the school but, in the future, it will also be a leading school for children with ASC and SSLD. Long-term, the school hopes to develop links and provide expert support to other schools and the wider community.

Modern campus life at a secondary school like The Chantry School can be frenetic and busy. Many schools are finding that they are having to think outside of the traditional box in terms of easing the burden on the internal building resources.

Sheringham High School is a secondary school with academy status located in Norfolk that underwent significant refurbishment to repair a number of its failing roofs. The client wanted the school’s campus to act as a benchmark for sustainability and therefore saw this as the perfect opportunity to achieve this with the addition of solar panels.

The School of Rock music school in Blackrock Village, Dublin, has undergone a major retrofit designed by KOTA Architecture.Partel consulted and worked with KOTA to develop an optimised ventilation design strategy for the existing building, providing technical support, and qualified service for installation and commissioning, facilitating the delivery of a complete decentralised ventilation system.LUNOS e260 and Nexxt E heat recovery ventilation systems were specified to be implemented.

Ridge Junior School, is a place where children and adults work hard, achieve their very best, enjoy learning together. Nestled in Yate, the school is a place filled with mutual respect, a zest for life and a desire to make sure our children are engaged, enriched and fulfilled.The School had recently contacted NBB in need of a cycle shelter to help enable and encourage more of their students to cycle to school, whilst also protecting the bikes from theft and adverse weather conditions.After working closely with the school, they decided on Kimmeridge Cycle Shelter to be the best option. The finished project can accommodate up to 18 bikes and was finished with a powder-coated Green RAL 6026 colour for a sleek and professional look.

Croesyceiliog School is a comprehensive state-funded secondary school in the Croesyceiliog area of Cwmbran. It has over 1,500 pupils, between the ages of 11 to 18. Demolition of school buildings was carried out, followed by the construction of a new three-story school building, two story sixth form, and sports block. This development is part of the Welsh Government’s 21st Century Schools programme, which has created 1,200 school places. The Considerate Constructors Scheme awarded the project 46/50 and stated that it was “consistently achieving extremely high standards within the industry”.Cellecta’s RUBBERfon Impact 3 was specified in this project due to its effective barrier to impact sound transmission and to ensure compliance with legislative requirements. It is available in various thicknesses ranging from 3mm-8mm and made from high compressive strength and 100% recycled rubber.Kier Group was awarded this 2,805m² contract to construct this redevelopment in South Wales.

The enclosed dining canopy has hugely impressed everyone at Sydenham School. The high-quality finish was just what they wanted and the custom design created a facility that can be enjoyed on every school day of the year.

Part of the Co-op Academies Trust since 2018, Portland School in Birkenhead is a primary school for children aged 3-11. Attended by Everton and England footballing legend of the 1920s and 30s, Dixie Dean, the main school building has had many additions over time, resulting in a roof with 24 roof areas at varying levels and with various roof build-ups. The whole of this 1600 m² roof was in need of refurbishment as part of a programme of maintenance and upgrades following the school’s transition to academy status.

TRC were appointed by Mulalley & Co LTD to design, supply and install 205 fully glazed and factory finished traditional box sash windows for Vauxhall primary school in London.Vauxhall Primary School is one of many British schools to be financed by the government in their mission to refurbish schools across the country.The Department for Education has invested £11.3bn since 2015 to enable schools to refurbish their buildings – this includes £1.8b in 2021-22 alone.We have a huge amount of experience and expertise in restoring and breathing new life into schools, hospitals and other significant public buildings, with Vauxhall Primary School being one of six school projects that TRC has completed since the ease of 2021’s COVID restrictions.We installed 205 fully glazed and factory finished Traditional Box Sash windows into hardwood consisting of a height of 3500mm with Teleflex operated top lights.Not only do the Traditional Box Sash windows provide a timeless classic look, they also provide incredibly efficient cooling, keeping classrooms cooler and pupils more comfortable during warmer months.The windows installed had to comply with the following specification requirements:Double glazed sash windows to achieve overall Uw-value of 1.4 w/m2k;Hardwood Georgian barsPas24 Enhanced Security element for ground floor windows 

In these uncertain times, as schools find their new ‘norm’, government guidelines advise schools to increase outdoor play. In response to this guidance, many schools are looking at ways to utilise their outdoor space and provide protection from the inclement British weather. Canopies, outdoor shelters and covered walkways could be a great investment for any education establishment.

Fulneck School were seeking a new and improved sports surface to freshen up the hall and transform their indoor space. For this reason, DYNAMIK overlaid the old timber school sports floor with a DYNAMIK seamless Polyethylene (PU). We advocate the benefits of solid synthetic surfaces for exceptional durability and seamless installation. Ryan Walker, Director of Sport at Fulneck School, had this to say: "The new flooring has really transformed our indoor space. It is now a first-class facility and all students at Fulneck School will really benefit from using it when we return".

The ProjectChaddesden Park Primary School in Derby, re-opened in June following a 2-year building programme and refurbishment, for their 1960s buildings. The new two-storey building was constructed to the latest building standards, accommodating 402 pupils from the ages of 3-11.The teaching staff and school management team were, however, acutely aware of the operational hurdles posed by the outdated 1960s buildings. Consequently, they were motivated to ensure that the products selected for the new build met criteria for reliability, practicality, safety, and energy efficiency. This extended to the washrooms, which were outdated in numerous ways.Joyce Gallagher, Chaddesden Park Primary School Business Manager explains: "The washrooms in our previous school buildings utilised paper towels for the children to dry their hands. This created daily problems for us."Therefore, the use of paper towels in the school was problematic and needed addressing urgently.SolutionThe school opted to install the latest generation of low energy hand dryers to avoid the issues it had experienced with paper towels.These hand dryers the school selected included the Biodrier Biobot - a child-friendly hand dryer, designed specifically for small children - and the Biodrier Eco - an extremely energy efficient hand dryer.Joyce comments on the thought process behind selecting this dryers: "The Biobot and Ecodriers were primarily chosen because of the potential for savings on paper towels, plumber call-outs and cleaner routines, but they also gave us the opportunity to help educate children about the importance of environmental savings given the reduction in wastage and application of low energy technology. This was particularly so with the Biobots which feature a colourful educational back-board which helps encourage the children to use the wash their hands to use the dryers."The ResultsThe upgrade from paper towels to energy-efficient hand dryers transformed the school's washrooms completely.Joyce continues: "The new school may only be a few months into its life but the results so far are fantastic. Compared to our old school buildings, the washrooms are tidier, safer, more attractive to visit and cost us far less to operate and maintain. The energy savings will become apparent as they are monitored over time, but we expect the dryers to make an important contribution to helping us minimise our carbon footprint longer term and reduce our energy consumption.”

In 2017 Sherborne Girls mapped out their strategic direction for the following 5 years, which included a space audit and improvement plan to ensure that all buildings and facilities would be brought up to a consistently high level. Since 2006 the school has seen significant investment in buildings and major refurbishment work, with one of the most recent and largest developments undertaken in decades being the construction of the new Arts Centre, which included the instalment of Classic XL from the Nordform Collection.

The client wanted the roof of this new building to not only be of the highest quality but also designed to be aesthetically pleasing and echo the ethos of the school based upon respecting your environment. Insulation needed to be incorporated into the roof build-up in order to satisfy building regulations and work hours had to be agreed to keep disruption to a minimum. The work also had to be completed to strict deadlines to ensure that the school would be open in time for the start of its inaugural term at its new location in Hazeley

Plumstead Manor School is located in Royal London Borough of Greenwich and is a secondary school and sixth form offering a world-class education to young people.Covered outdoor areas have proved a strong asset for our schools throughout the pandemic, helping create extra covered space for year groups. With students spending more time outside school buildings there is an increasing demand for covered space and the Streetspace team were able to help Plumstead Manor School transform an underutilised playground area into valuable all-weather space for breaks and lunch times, complete with a snack shack unit.The Streetspace TRITON canopy with its multiwall polycarbonate roof system is a versatile design with column spacing and layout that can be configured to allow for external building features or below ground services while maintaining the structural design integrity. The Plumstead Manor School canopy is a great example of this with a 28 m length and a span width of 9.5 m narrowing to 6.5 m.The multiwall polycarbonate roof system has integral UV blocking and protects students from the sun’s harmful rays during the summer months, while providing shelter in the winter. TRITON canopy steelwork and rainwater systems are colour powder coated to coordinate with school’s colour scheme and adjacent building fabric.

Eternit fibre cement profiled sheeting in colour Black was specified for the roof of St Bartholomew’s School, Swindon.

Working alongside Premier Modular, we designed, manufactured and installed 17 canopies at 7 schools in the city.

The combination of a DYNAMIK sprung, high compression, comfort based undercarriage finished in a solid (non-foam backed) vinyl provides high levels of indentation resistance from tables, chairs or play equipment typically seen in Primary or Junior Schools. The feeling of comfort is achieved by the flexibility of the new DYNAMIK Sprung base and not the top playing surface as the Vinyl is solid, therefore will not indent or tear when a point or rolling load is applied. The DYNAMIK Sports Vinyl in wood effect is easy to clean, combating drink or food spillages.

Financed by county council capital funds, Northamptonshire County Council undertook a multi-million pound remedial works programme on a number of schools originally built in the 1960’s and 1970’s. All of the buildings were suffering from some degree of water ingress, and the roofs needed to be brought in line with current building regulations for improved thermal performance. Sika Sarnafil’s specialist roofing contractors installed over 50,000m2 in light and lead grey of G410-18EL single ply membrane to the school roofs.

Ashmead Combined School in Aylesbury can now set up their lunchtime furniture in 8 minutes – that’s seating for 240 students!The six double Wall Pockets which seat approximately 240 pupils takes around eight minutes to set up; a massive time saving on their previous furniture. This time-saving in turn allows the hall to be used as a sports facility for longer each day.The fold-away system ultimately pays for itself as the need for fewer staff to set-up is saving the school money on a daily basis. Proving that the Wall Pocket system can be used for so much more than just lunchtimes, this school also use theirs for lectures and other hall events, as the tables and benches can independently be laid out and are perfect for school assemblies.Versa’s Wall Pocket system is ideal for multi-function halls or school spaces where there is a lack of room to store dining furniture. The simply-installed folding tables and benches are stored within a neat ‘pocket’ which is installed against, or into, the school hall’s wall.The pressure on schools to get the most out of their hall means that anything that increases capacity saves on the staff-time cost of setting out traditional furniture, or releases existing storage areas for other uses, is always welcome. The Wall Pocket system does exactly that.

Orion School was eager to incorporate its ‘recognising the star in everyone’ ethos into its carpet design. Ofsted Outstanding school incorporated stars in several different Supacord colours throughout the corridor areas.

The modern buildings at Chryston High School in Glasgow were complemented with an attractive and functional landscape which was created with a variety of Tobermore paving products.

Kew House School is a co-educational independent senior school for students aged 11-18 years. Open since September 2013, their recent Ofsted Report noted that the faculties “ambitious vision and relentless drive have established a school that promotes the highest standards and aims for excellent achievements for its students”. Under the leadership of veteran Headmaster, Mark Hudson, the school has put a concerted emphasis on the individual; establishing confidence that encourages students to maximise their personal achievements in every facet of school life.With higher education never more popular amongst young people, Kew House School excel at providing smooth passage of students from sixth form to university. While the traditional values of academic excellence and achievement remain pivotal, Kew High School are continuously exploring dynamic modern approaches to encourage and nurture independence and leadership.Kew House School’s vision is encapsulated by their Sixth Form Centre, a new build, designed specifically to encourage independence and individuality for students approaching adulthood. Spread across 6 floors, the stunning construction features an independent learning area, a café, library, break-out spaces and quiet study areas. The building also includes an audio-visual suite, recording studio, classrooms and Sixth Form Seminar rooms. It creates a dynamic environment; extolling campus life within the secure and nurturing confines of school.Streetspace Urban Structures became involved in the project when a single-source canopy solution was sought for the top floor roof deck. The striking canopy featured a symmetric central ‘spine’ design with in-line support columns and finished with a perimeter cable edge. The canopy’s signal white steelwork complemented the champagne finish of the PVC membrane fabric. The installation used two existing steel support plates and the speedy construction involved components being craned up to the 6th floor.With its translucency, colour, clearspan and softness of form, the ORION Shield Tensile Membrane Canopy, proved to be the perfect solution, with the gentle curve of the shield design providing both an attractive aesthetic and a unique ambience to an outstanding build that provided a stunning finish to a prestigious project.

The Warwick School is undergoing a major transformation. It has a brand new school building, and as of September 2021, it will have a brand new logo, uniform and name, Carrington School. Kerry, the headteacher, talks about the old buildings in Surrey Live, “they were dilapidated. They were dark, small, in some places the heating didn’t work properly. They had just run out of steam, and over the years of thousands of students going through them, they needed some care and attention.” The new teaching block is made up of 22 classrooms, a dining space, a social area for students to relax in and a sports hall. This makeover and expansion have helped the school to increase its GCSE range.The new name derives from Richard Carrington, an astronomer who built Redhill Observatory in 1852. It was there that he carried out pioneering investigations on solar flares and devised a system for numbering complete rotations of the sun, still in use today. Some of the secondary school students live in Redhill streets which carry his name.Helmsman is extremely happy to have manufactured, supplied and installed laminate school lockers. These are in the new building over two floors. The four-compartment lockers have provided storage for 157 students. These laminate school lockers have sloping tops and end panels to keep the lockers secure from vandalism and to keep them clean. During the install, these lockers were bolted together side by side and to the walls for safety purposes. We used Abet Laminati for the doors. The school chose beautiful colours of aubergine, tones of grey and others colours to make these lockers stand out and to match the modern feel around the building.Installation of standard school lockers of 1775 height by 300 widths and 450 depths with the standard swivel locks decorate the new building. Swivel locks have two functions: Locking with a padlock, and it can also be used as a handle to open/close the locker. Each compartment has an oval laminated number plate. These lockers will provide long-lasting durability for the transformed secondary school.Helmsman is the leading manufacturer of a complete range of lockers and cubicles in the UK and a specialist in providing solutions across different sectors from leisure, healthcare and education through to commercial, retail, construction and industrial. With a dedicated and experienced in-house design team supported by its on-site factory, the company produces high-quality lockers manufactured for each project.