SB 4152 Web

Case Study
Streets ahead, & weeks ahead!
Raymond Millar, Construction Director at The McAvoy Group, looks at the design and offsite construction of a new state-of-theart
academy in Slough and how it was delivered weeks ahead of programme.
Lynch Hill Enterprise Academy is a
£20m education campus and one of
the largest ever modular schools to be
built in the UK. It demonstrates a number of
new innovations which contributed to its
early completion – an unprecedented 17
weeks ahead of programme, giving this new
free school the benefit of even earlier
occupation
Lynch Hill is a 1,140-place academy
specialising in science, technology,
engineering and maths, and was built by
principal contractor and offsite specialist The
McAvoy Group, for the Learning Alliance
Academy Trust. In recognition of its success,
the project has already been shortlisted for
five industry awards.
Designed by Blue Sky Architects and funded
by the Education and Skills Funding Agency
(ESFA), this three-storey 8,750m 2 building is
an exemplar offsite education project which
has a design inspired by the world-leading
Harvard Business School.
The design for Lynch Hill was initially
developed for another site and then had to be
adapted for a second and final brownfield
site. The build programme had to
accommodate extensive demolition works,
asbestos removal, the adjacent construction
of a new sports stadium, restricted access,
and the school’s first intake of pupils who
were located in temporary buildings also on
the site.
Construction had to be phased to
allow early handover of the
sports hall and changing
facilities for use by
the school.
The design brief set out a number of
important criteria, all within the ESFA’s
available budget, which the project
successfully met.
• It had to facilitate the exchange of
knowledge with business and encourage a
sense of enterprise among students,
thereby helping to bridge the skills gap for
local companies.
• It had to create an environment for
collaborative learning and mentoring, and
provide good visibility as part of the school’s
anti-bullying strategy.
• It had to have excellent acoustic
performance.
• Community access was required to the
sports facilities.
The school is designed around four large
multi-functional central spaces which help to
maximise natural light and encourage
interaction and collaborative learning. The
use of inspirational messages and bold
colours throughout reflects the academy’s
ethos of enterprise, aspiration and
achievement.
The building features an impressive fullheight
glazed entrance,
a striking timber
colonnade
with
brise soleil sunshading, and a palette of
materials which includes render and timbereffect
rainscreen cladding to harmonise the
scheme in its semi-rural location.
Offsite construction was used for the
curriculum wing. Facilities include science
laboratories, ICT suite, SEN hub, studios for
music, drama and art, areas for informal
learning, sixth form study and social space,
kitchen and café. An enterprise exchange
runs through the core of the building on two
levels to facilitate collaboration with local
businesses.
There is a four-court sports hall and a main
hall with retractable seating which were
constructed using a fast-track steel system.
The sports hall can be separated and secured
from the rest of the school out of hours.
Externally there is a landscaped area and
social space which form a large arrival plaza
at the front of the school. This creates a sense
of place and identity for the academy and
encourages informal gatherings with its
planting and seating. There are outdoor
teaching spaces, a soft landscaped study
garden, social area, multi-use games areas,
and a sports pitch.
FACT FILE:
Client: Learning Alliance
Academy Trust/Education and
Skills Funding Agency
Facility: 1,140-place academy
Building size: 8,750m2
Location: Slough
Value: £20m
Weeks on site: 53 weeks
Partners: Blue Sky Architects
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