Project Overview
Window repairs were required in a live environment, which meant our site managers co-ordinating with the school management team to access classrooms when they were not being used for lessons, working to strict timescales, working out of hours and at weekend.
Radstone school is part of the Hawksmoor Learning Trust, which was officially formed in December 2016, after Nicholas Hawksmoor Primary School, in Towcester, had been approved as a sponsor school by the Department for Education in 2015.
The Trust also includes Bracken Leas Primary School, its nearest neighbour in Brackley, which joined in April 2017.
Despite being a modern development issues had arisen with seals around the windows and gearing not performing correctly which was impacting the opening and closing of the windows and security.
We were asked to go and investigate and offer a plan for the repairs and maintenance, which would have to be done during term time.
Client Information
We were engaged by Mineral Star Construction, specialists in public sector works with more than 200 projects ongoing including schools, higher and further education, nurseries, prisons, specialist care providers and the health sector. Their staff are very experienced in all the safety and security and specialist requirements for this sector.
Radstone School
The front façade addresses a public square where its formal appearance reflects the importance of the school within the community. The building was designed with the appearance of a grand Victorian schoolhouse, with a modern addition to the rear. The materials palette includes local ironstone, natural slate roof and cast stone window surrounds, with brick, metal standing seam roof and aluminium framed windows to the modern parts of the school.
Project Information
Across the building our engineers were required to remove the opening sashes, mastic seal around the window and re-install the sashes using all the existing gearing so that they operated correctly. The windows had Siegenia Tilt & Turn gearing.
Windows were misaligned, not opening and closing correctly meaning rooms were not being properly ventilated also windows were catching reveals and causing damage to plasterwork or catching cills where the windows had dropped, again causing damage.
The project involved multiple windows across the building, in classrooms, office rooms, sports hall and other rooms.
In total we addressed concerns to 12 single opening windows, 24 double opening windows, 15 treble opening windows and 2 quadruple opening windows, a total of 113 opening lights.
On completion all windows operated correctly and cills and reveals could be repaired with no risk of further damage.
High-Level Mechanically operated windows
A number of mechanisms had failed in high level windows that used a chain drive for opening and closing from a control unit at ground level. Working with our specialist subcontractor we inspected all the windows and found 3 motors in the classroom which were not working. We were able to source replacements for the broken chain drives and missing control units.
