Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) has recently completed a £9 million mechanical and electrical (M&E) contract as part of the £50 million re-development of Kent’s Thomas Tallis School, one of the largest secondary schools in the South East.
Working with main contractor Balfour Beatty, BBES delivered a range of sustainable building services at the 20,500m2 new-build facility including a biomass boiler and PIR controlled lighting and water systems. BBES also utilised offsite manufacture to deliver three fully-serviced rooftop plant rooms – prefabricated at the company’s Modular Systems + facility in Wednesbury, West Midlands.
Incorporating all M&E containment including pipework and ductwork for heating services, the three 4m x 4m plant rooms were delivered fully wired for a smooth, efficient installation completed in just one working day. Using an on-site tower crane, BBES transported the plant rooms into position onto the school’s roof, reducing hours required on site, removing the various safety risks of working and assembly at height. This offsite approach also helps to ensure quality control whilst minimising waste, a reflection of the company’s commitment to delivering sustainable build solutions.
The project also included the integration of energy saving occupancy control of domestic water services to toilet and changing areas, so the water system switches off when students and staff are not there. An intelligent BMS system was also installed to allow the control and monitoring of the full site from the Facilities Management office.
These additional sustainable initiatives, along with the biomass boiler and use of offsite fabrication to minimise waste, has helped to reduce the environmental impact of the building, improve its life costs and promote a collective responsibility to sustainability – in line with Balfour Beatty Group’s sustainability vision.
The successful use of modularisation at Thomas Tallis School has enabled BBES to promote its numerous benefits – including safety, sustainability and efficiency – at future M&E projects in the educational sector.
“We are continuously improving and developing ideas from previous projects,” said BBES Project Manager Simon Stothard. “In fact, the team is currently discussing further use of modularisation at Plumstead Manor and Eltham Hill schools where, despite being around 70% refurbishment, the plan is to maximise modularisation to help achieve the group’s Zero Harm strategy.”
In line with the company’s Zero Harm strategy, the Thomas Tallis School project was successfully completed over 570 days without a reportable or major accident – with offsite modularisation playing a part in these impressive safety figures by reducing the hours on site and utilising a controlled factory environment.
Now complete, the new Thomas Tallis School will welcome nearly 2,000 pupils to a state-of-the-art school facility. The project’s successful delivery further emphasises BBES’ ability to design, supply and install complex M&E schemes safely and sustainably whilst demonstrating the numerous benefits of offsite modularisation.
