York’s Portakabin Group hands over first new school in £28m programme

Portakabin Group, the York-based off-site construction specialist, has handed over the first new school in the £28m Surrey and Kent batch of the Priority School Building Programme.

The £5.6m building for Pyrford Primary School near Woking was delivered on time and on budget.

Manufactured in York, the scheme for 480 children has replaced two outdated 1960s buildings which Portakabin will now demolish.

Pyrford is the first of six primary schools in the Surrey and Kent region being rebuilt by the Portakabin Group under the Government’s Priority School Building Programme (PSBP), in contracts worth in the region of £28m.

Each scheme has been designed in line with Department for Education teaching standards to create learning environments and is being delivered using Yorkon off-site building solutions.

The use of off-site construction has halved the programme time for completion and occupation at Pyrford, ready for the start of the 2016/17 academic year.

The new school is designed to have high levels of natural light to improve concentration levels, and increased access and space for outdoor play and learning.

Among the features Portakabin constructed are 16 bright classrooms with dual aspect natural light, a double-height multi-purpose hall, two teaching wings organised around an internal central ‘street’ to allow good passive supervision.

Richard Crosby, project director at the Education Funding Agency, said: “We are very happy with the new school for Pyrford Primary.

“The quality of the building is very good and we look forward to the successful delivery of the other Priority School Building Programme projects in the Surrey and Kent batch and to achieving even greater efficiencies with the use of off-site construction.”

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