Midas Construction is celebrating the topping out of work to deliver new facilities for younger pupils at Kingswood Prep School in Bath.
Representatives from Kingswood School and Midas gathered on site to mark the milestone for the project which has progressed rapidly since work started on site in August.
Kingswood School is an Independent Co-educational Boarding and Day School for pupils aged 3-18 and the multi-million-pound project is seeing the addition of a series of new buildings for the nursery, reception classes and the preparatory school.
Kingswood said it is delighted to be opening ‘The Garden At Kingswood’, which will be a state-of-the-art all-year-round facility. The Nursery will welcome children from nine months old and will be offering a variety of flexible sessions.
The new all-year-round facilities have taken shape quickly thanks to the use of innovative and sustainable cross laminated timber construction methods – which consists of large panels of laminated spruce used to form the walls, floors, roof and stairs of the buildings.
The timber framing has been completed to all the new buildings, with work to fix the cedar shingle roofing under way on the nursery and reception areas, windows being installed and mechanical and electrical works starting to get under way.
Midas is working closely with Kingswood, to ensure school activities continue as normal during the build, and also with its local community.
To this end, the project has achieved the highest ever rating for Midas on the Considerate Constructors scheme, which rates sites on their safety, appearance, environmental performance, engagement with the local community and workforce.
The site has been visited twice and both times rated as ‘Exceptional’ in each of the five categories, with the report going on to say it was, “clear that the site team’s commitment to the CCS Code of Conduct is fantastic for which each and every one of them is to be congratulated.”
Andy Blake, Project Manager for Midas Construction, said: “We’re very pleased with the progress on site and to be celebrating the topping out of the project.
“It is great for all involved to see the new buildings taking shape so quickly and the way in which they will fit so well into the school setting.
“The Considerate Constructors rating of ‘Exceptional’ across all five criteria is the highest we’ve ever received on a site and reflects the excellent working relationship we have with the school and Midas’s wider commitment to industry-leading customer service and close co-operation with the communities we are working in.”
The new nursery building at Kingswood will be arranged as a pod of three interlinked buildings offering an imaginative educational environment for children as they progress through the age ranges.
This will in turn link to a new hall and a series of music, art, technology and design classrooms being built for the preparatory school.
All the buildings have been designed by Stonewood Design to fit within the school’s impressive setting, within Bath’s conservation area and to complement the tree-lined site.
The buildings will feature an attractive mix of pitched and hipped roofs, walls partially clad in traditional brickwork and western red cedar shingles to the upper walls and roofs.
The use of cross laminated timber panels allows a quick, quiet, clean and efficient form of construction. When exposed internally, the product has the benefit of creating a warm and calm environment, which will support the learning experience.
The project is due to be completed in summer 2018 and registrations are being taken now.