New-build special educational needs (SEN) school, featuring specialist educational support facilities and external learning areas.

Eckersley O’Callaghan provided structural and civil engineering services for a new school for approximately 100 students with special educational needs. The school was designed to support high levels of therapeutic care, featuring dedicated drop-off points and a multi-use games area (MUGA).

The building occupies a brownfield site and is partially located over former landfill, creating several design challenges, such as significant changes in the existing ground levels. We conducted a cut-and-fill analysis across the site to determine optimum levels for the building, soft landscape and car park. Balancing these levels was further complicated by Environment Agency requirements that meant flood water could not be displaced.

Various foundation solutions were considered before it was determined that piled foundations across the whole building footprint would provide the most reliable design solution, mitigating differential settlement issues that would have required careful detailing. Our risk analysis concluded that any savings made in varying foundation forms would be offset in maintaining a single form of piled foundation construction.

Location
Maidenhead, UK

Client
Kier Group plc | Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead

Architect
Haverstock Architects