Pupils celebrate progress on new sports hall as giant timber frame goes up

Students and PE Staff at The Trafalgar School at Downton, Wiltshire, celebrate a major milestone in the construction of their new £2m sports hall as the specially designed timber frame is craned in.  The multi-purpose sports hall, which is due to open in September, will provide the school with new, modern facilities, benefiting pupils from the surrounding communities with one of the best sports halls in the county.

The eight month project is being led by Beard, together with Wiltshire Council.  Once completed the building will comprise a four-court sports hall with floor to ceiling glazed screens providing natural daylight, changing rooms and showers, with dedicated staff changing areas. A new exit to the main road will improve access issues.

The project includes a number of environmental features including ground source heat pumps providing renewable energy to heat the building and rainwater harvesting, as well as hedgerow planting and improvements to enhance the local ecology of the site.

Head of PE Ian Brown said: “We are really excited by the progress Beard is making on our new sports facilities. With the 2012 Olympics just around the corner the timing could not be better to enthuse and encourage sporting activity in the school. Our construction partner Beard has been terrific, working hand in hand with us to ensure minimal disruption to the school working day.”

Beard construction director Marc Bayley added: “The team are no strangers to the Education environment and we do a lot of work with Wiltshire to improve school facilities. The project at Downton is particularly challenging because of the high water table. We found an innovative solution to compact and improve the underlying ground strength which meant we didn’t need to excavate below the water table.”