Mandeville SEN School

The project is to expand Mandeville School from 102 to 135 PMLD and ASD pupils by providing nine ASD and ten PMLD classbase other areas for specialist and therapy areas as well as improvements to the existing pool changing areas. The current phase of development includes both new build extension and internal alterations to the existing building. The overarching purpose is to create new facilities for ASD pupils, including new classrooms, new hall and dining area, additional offices and therapeutic facilities such as exercise and soft play rooms.

Our work on this project includes mechanical, electrical, public health and above ground drainage design from RIBA Stage B to F1. This includes all heating, hot and cold water, ventilation, above ground drainage, electrical power, lighting, data, fire alarms, security, and access controls.

Key aspects to this project is the environmental performance of the building in terms of natural daylight and ventilation. Early on in the design process we modelled the daylight factor / uniformity and given some ground floor rooms have to be single aspect the building floor to ceiling height was adjusted to optimise the daylight factor to achieve BB102. Also, the key has been to improve the natural ventilation systems within the existing refurbished building. We have also undertaken early modeling to suggest low-cost improvements to the current systems, plus increasing window opening areas to achieve more acceptable results for the newly created PMLD classbases.