St Andrew’s Prep School
Project Overview
Project: Sports hall with ancillary facilities & dance studio
Client: St Andrew’s Prep School
Contract value: £2.1m
St Andrew’s Prep School is a co-educational independent school for children between the ages of 2 and 13 years.
The school wished to develop and improve their provision for sporting activities and chose Ball Hall (Project Management), a market leader in the field, to provide a Sport England standard, multi-use sports hall with ancillary facilities and a dance studio, to achieve their aspirations.
Daniel Connal Partnership was appointed by Ball Hall as Employer’s Agent and to provide CDM services on the scheme.
St Andrew’s Prep is located on a sloping site in a residential area on the outskirts of Eastbourne at the edge of the South Downs. In this sensitive location, Daniel Connal Partnership worked closely with the architects and planning department to finalise a sports hall scheme that achieved the aims of the school while satisfying local authority requirements and acknowledging concerns of local residents. As part of this process changes were made to the hall’s roof design, and the building was set into the hillside slightly, reducing the visual impact of the development on the surrounding area.
St Andrew’s Prep School, Eastbourne
One slightly unusual aspect of this project was the planning condition requiring archaeological monitoring of the excavation phase of the build. DCP identified an appropriate professional to undertake the role and provide a comprehensive report on any findings – in this instance some evidence of pre-historic activity in the limestone beneath the development site.
The school remained operational throughout the build. With the tennis courts and playing fields adjacent to the build site also in use during the development, student & staff safety was obviously of paramount importance. Measures implemented by DCP and close liaison with both the client & contractor ensured that the project was completed safely with minimal disruption to the school.
The new sports hall was opened by paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE DL.
At the opening, Gareth Jones, Headmaster, said, “We are genuinely excited about this fantastic new project to enhance our sporting provision. At St Andrew’s Prep, we are dedicated to providing the best possible environment for our pupils and this will help us to maintain our position as a top provider of independent education in Eastbourne and the surrounding area.”