Cakes for construction team
- New Ladybird Children’s Centre Brings Out the Community Spirit at Westrop Primary

A new £1m extension at Westrop School in Highworth, completed by local construction company Beard, opened recently to provide important new nursery facilities for the area.  These include a crèche, Highworth Pre-School and the Ladybird Children’s Centre, together with two classrooms replacing unsuitable temporary buildings.

The school head teacher Janet Urban said: “Beard’s construction team has succeeded in delivering new, quality buildings in a very tight time frame, while working in a sensitive ‘live’ school environment with restricted access and space constraints.  We’re delighted to have these new facilities which enable the community to access a range of professionals in a purpose built environment and provide onsite services for children and families.”

The head teacher added: “We have been very impressed with Beard in their approach to working on a school site. I really don’t think we would have achieved such a marvellous building but for the co-operation and enthusiasm of Shaheen and his team.”

Strong communication from the team to keep teachers, children and local residents informed has been a key element for success and local residents have been quick to express their support with cakes for the team and help with parking, as construction progressed.

Beard site manager, Shaheen Jeewanjee, explains: “Local residents have been terrific. On every education project we actively encourage participation and work as closely as we can with the community and teaching staff. Over 150 children have visited the site to learn about construction and we have been delighted by the fantastic co-operation from parents and residents. I think this is due to our honesty from saying what would happen and then doing what we said we would do.  Apart from lots of delicious cakes, we’ve been allowed to park our vehicles on people’s driveways, use their spare telephone lines and even had temporary water connection from inside their properties.”