Following a competitive tender process through the North West Construction Hub framework, Seddon successfully won the Sandside Lodge project for Cumbria County Council.
The scheme consists of a new 80-place school with special facilities, including sensory rooms, a therapy suite, hydrotherapy swimming pool, physiotherapy rooms, rebound trampoline therapy alongside modern teaching spaces with the latest technology.
A dedicated library and specialist science facilities have been constructed along with the school's first kitchen offering pupils and staff their own meals on-site. This is extremely beneficial as the school accommodates special dietary requirements for their pupils.
The new facility intends to incorporate the county’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Resource Team which will help the school develop into a Centre of Excellence for Autism.
Once the enabling and demolition works were completed, the site team tarmacked the site in preparation for the steel frame to be fitted, offering an innovative solution to health and safety and maintaining site cleanliness throughout the duration of the contract.
Regular newsletters were issued to Ulverston High School, nearby residents and local businesses to ensure construction updates were communicated with the local community, providing awareness of what was going on and to appoint a contact for any issues that may occur.
Seddon provided lots of value to the community during the Sandside project including:
- We invited the children from Sandside School to visit the site which included a sod-cutting ceremony.
- We have organised site visits during the summer holidays in order for pupils to see the progress.
- We informed the local community about the construction activities on-site via newsletters.
- We organised drop-in days for residents in order to share updates on site, and offer an opportunity to voice any opinions.
- We formed a temporary car park for neighbouring Ulverston High School ensuring minimal disruption to school staff.
- We demolished and provided a new shed base and also cut down a tree for Ulverston High School, improving space and function to the school.
- We regularly sent progress photographs to Sandside Schools Headteacher who produced a ‘progression board’ at the old school in order for the children to view a timeline of construction works of their new school.
Seddon are very passionate about providing customer satisfaction on all our projects. From engagement, to delivery, aftercare and beyond. Our site team supported this ethos through the delivery of our customer journey presentation to Cumbria County Council. During our initial meeting our delivery team obtained an understanding of the requirements needed to ensure our working relationships was an enjoyable one, identifying and coordinating key dates for meetups, enabling two-way communication throughout the duration of the scheme.
Sandside Lodge recently scooped a prestigious national award, read more here.
