New Build
Update Monday 16 January 2012
Today we were delighted to take possession of our two new all weather hockey pitches.
It has been great to get back out our own pitches and also to have access again to the CIYMS pitch through the school site making for great ease of access to the facilities. With 12 teams regularly vying for pitches this has been a real boost and a promise of more to come with the completion of our own ‘astro-turf’ pitch due in April 2012. Staff and pupils have been very impressed with the standard and finish of the all weather pitches and can now look forward to inviting other schools to our grounds for competitions.
The availability of such a large area on the school site allowed us to invest in a geothermal heating system as our main source of heating for the new school. This is a very exciting venture providing an environmentally friendly heating solution which also promises to reduce our heating bills. The all weather pitches and the synthetic pitch have been constructed on top of our geothermal heating system.
Four areas of horizontal looped pipe work were laid 1.2m below the surface of the ground and then layers of clay replaced on top.
The geothermal system works something like a fridge or freezer but in reverse order. Water is pumped through the pipe work below the ground thus collecting some of the heat contained in the ground. This is returned to the boiler house and passed through a heat exchanger to extract that heat gathered from the ground and which is then used to heat water circulated through the under floor heating in the school. The cooled water is then pumped back out to the pipe under the ground and so the whole process starts again. Thus the ground will be like the inside of the fridge and the back of the fridge (where all the heat comes out of the fridge) will be like the underfloor heating in the school. There will be a gas boiler available as a back up if extra heat is needed.
Update Friday 17 June 2011
Today the demolition of the Assembly Hall was completed.
On Thursday members of the School Council put on their hard hats and high visibility vests to be given a tour of the site. They saw the foundations for the first classroom block, the monitoring station for noise, dust and vibration and the foundations for fitness suite and external changing rooms. At that time the first pipes for the geothermal heating were being laid on a sand base and then the hockey pitches will be constructed on top of these.
Update 13 June 2011
In this last week much has happened in school.
The first of the demolitions began on the afternoon of Wednesday 8 June with the removal of Room 8, the Staff room and the Library.
Today the foyer was demolished and you can now see into the Gymnasium. The work is carried out with care as the wood and metal are all separated out for recycling and eventually the brick and concrete rubble will be removed, crushed and recycled as construction aggregate.
The foundations for the main teaching block have been dug on the site previously occupied by the tennis courts and the first layer of concrete poured.
The foundations for the fitness suite and external changing rooms were dug on Thursday 9 June.
Today work began on installing the geothermal heating pipes in the ground under what will become the hockey pitches.
We are now into our temporary library which previously had been the English rooms and into the temporary staffroom which is considerably more comfortable and bigger than our previous staffroom. Assemblies are now held in Miskelly hall which is also used for PE lessons; thus returning it to a Gym.
We continue to be very impressed with how little the builders have impacted upon the running of the School.
Update 30 March 2011
Strathearn School is delighted to be one of only two major school developments released this financial year. This £13.5 million project is great news for the current and future pupils of the School and also a significant investment for the NI economy. Thirteen years ago the Department of Education first recognised the shortfall of accommodation for the School and then in February 2003 approved the building of a new school on the current site. This has been a very long process.
The development will include a 10,100m2 new school and a 1,600m2 refurbishment involving demolition of some of the remaining buildings on the existing campus. Site works will include the provision of new roads and car parking, a synthetic hockey pitch, 2 all-weather hockey pitches and tennis courts. It is planned that the pitches will be finished for November 2011 and the first phase of 32 classrooms ready for occupation in September 2012. The completion date of the whole project is set for September 2014.
The School was granted planning permission on 18 December 2008 and McLaughlin & Harvey began work on 21 March 2011. The Department of Education has determined that a school our size should have 5 pitches to provide the appropriate facilities for 770 pupils. Hockey is very strong and successful in Strathearn with up to twelve teams playing in any season. This year our 1XI won the Senior Hockey Shield, the 2B XI came runners up in the 3XI cup and the 2A XI play in the final of the Second XI Plate on Wednesday 30 March.
As an essential part of the scheme we are delighted to have been able to purchase a small portion (2.66 acres)of the overall Belmont Park from Belfast City Council for the purpose of providing sporting facilities which a school our size needs. We also have a long history of community group use of our sporting facilities. Each evening our Sports Hall is rented out to local groups and our tennis facilities are used by organisations during the holiday periods. We are building an Astroturf hockey pitch and this land will allow us to build a second ‘all weather’ pitch which will double as part of an athletics training track in the summer season. Such is the demand, we already have groups wanting to book all these facilities. These facilities will provide a much needed facility in East Belfast and each day 770 pupils at Strathearn School and groups of young people and adults in the area will benefit from this development. The School already uses facilities at CIYMS, Ashfield Girls’ School and Civil Service, for which we are very grateful but these are not always available.
In addition, we are installing a Geothermal Horizontal Heating Loop under all the hockey pitches. This is an exciting development so that the primary source of heating for the whole of the school will be environmentally friendly. Other environmental features include rain water harvesting and the use of solar water heating panels.
Questions have been asked about badgers on site. The School commissioned a report which identified a ‘partially used outlier sett … but shows no sign of recent use.’ The Contractors have implemented all the report’s recommendations to ensure the protection of any possible badgers. The Contractor’s actions go beyond that specified by The Northern Ireland Environment Agency which has been kept fully informed of all actions.
Update 6 August 2010.
Today the Education Minister announced that Strathearn School new build is to progress in this financial year. Work had been on target to start in April 2010 but that was suspended in February because of economic cut-backs.
We are absolutely delighted that we can now progress to tender in this financial year. This is much better than we could have hoped for having anticipated funds not likely to become available until 2011-12. With so many schools requiring building and refurbishment work we are delighted that the needs of Strathearn have been recognised in this way and that a project which began in February 2003 will finally be coming to fruition.
This is a great boost for the school community and we look forward to taking possession of new and expanded facilities.
D Manning
Update on New Build
26 March 2010
Dear Parents
Re. New School Build
With this letter I will bring everyone up to date with our building project for which all the drawings are complete and planning permission was approved in January 2009.
Our New Build is planned in two stages with only the Sports Hall and Technology block retained. The first phase consisting of 34 classrooms is to be built where the Assembly Hall and lower car park is currently situated. When complete, the remainder of the classrooms, administration block, canteen, library, assembly hall and music, drama and ICT suites will be built on the current site. In addition the Technology block will be refurbished and extended and the Sports Hall will be refurbished and extended to include a gymnasium, fitness suite and additional changing rooms. The contract is expected to take three years in total. When we are ready to build I will be giving more detailed information.
As you are aware, last summer we took possession of new mobile accommodation, paid for by the Department of Education, in preparation for the building work to start on our new school. We are really delighted with the standard of these buildings and the extra room it gives us all.
In January 2010 an advert seeking contractors to apply to build our school (at approximately £18.5m) was placed by the Department of Education in the European Journal of contracts. Submissions were made and a small number of contractors were identified who were to be asked to tender for the work. Unfortunately this is where the process has been stopped - before going to tender.
I have been informed by the Department of Education that it has no money to start new works in the 2010/11 financial year. Its budget will only cover work currently on site although we have been told to plan for a start in 2011/12. Much work has gone into our project to get it to this stage and I am very disappointed, especially when just a few months ago we were anticipating an Easter 2010 start date. I am working with the Department to ensure that there are no obstacles to a 2011 start. I am concerned that the budget for 2010/11 has not been finalised, and therefore the resources for 2011/12 are difficult to determine, but I do take much comfort from the fact that the Department has already shown confidence in our project by investing £540,000 in the accommodation we received last summer.
Strathearn is much more than its buildings but we continue to work to obtain facilities that match the aspirations and interests of our students. I will provide further information when available but that is unlikely to be before the start of next year.
Thank you for your continued interest.
Principal
Timeline
Below is a timeline of the key dates in the process with
February 2003 - Department of Education approved funding for a new school on the current site
March 2003 - EC Harris appointed as Project Managers
August 2003 - Samuel Stevenson and Son appointed as Architects and work begins on the design of the school
September 2004 - Outline plans (stage C) submitted to the Department of Education for approval
June 2006 - Outline plans approved which allowed work to begin on final drawings
January 2007 - Stage D plans submitted to the Department of Education for approval
September 2007 - Final approval of plans (stage D) given by the Department of Education
November 2007 - Planning Application submitted
January 2008 - Planning application submitted for Temporary Accommodation necessary for construction of Phase 1
January 2009 - Planning Approval granted
July 2009 - Temporary Accommodation brought on site
Now awaiting for Phase 1 to start and this includes the main 35 room classroom block, the fitness suite and additional changing rooms. Phase 1 is scheduled to take 18 months to complete.
Phase 2 includes reception and administrative accommodation, more classrooms, assembly hall, library, an additional Gymnasium, astro-turf hockey pitch, canteen, and sixth form accommodation. It is also scheduled to take 18 months.
