Daventry Hill SEN School

A new SEN school built to meet pupil needs and protect the world’s resources

BAM designed and built this new 175 pupil Special Academy for children with both profound multiple learning difficulties and within the Autistic Spectrum.

The School, located in Daventry, caters for pupils between the ages of 4-18, and is part of the ‘Multi Academy Excellent Education for All’ programme.

Project details

Client: Education Funding Agency
Contractor: BAM Construct UK
Architect: Hunters South
Structural Engineer: BAM Design

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175

place SEN school

EFA FOS

designed to meet the requirements for SEN schools

Reduce

waste and resource usage adopted

The two storey, steel framed structure, was enveloped in a combination of brickwork and Ash timber frame rainscreen cladding. The flat, single ply roof was fitted with a handrail surround throughout, creating an outdoor play area.

Video of Daventry Hill SEN School

The internal layout provides 20 teaching classrooms, plus supporting administration areas and storage spaces. The school has a large multi-use Sports Hall, which is also used as a lunchtime dining area. Other facilities include a Hydrotherapy Pool, Multi-Sensory Room and Calm Room. Due to the special needs of the children two 13 person lifts were also installed.

Externally an entrance road was created, which is capable of taking the larger buses required for the children’s specific needs.

The design was developed to meet the individual requirements of the academy and the requirements of the EFA Facilities Output Specification (FOS) for SEN schools.

Reducing waste

BAM Adopted a number of methods to reduce wastage during the school’s construction this included designing to standard material dimensions (where possible), use of products that could be reused and consulting with the supply chain. To support the reuse of products at the end of the building’s life BIM was used to record how each element of the building had been designed for disassembly.

Minimising resource consumption

A key strategic aim of the design was to minimise energy consumption via the use of passive design measures such as low energy light fittings and high spec thermal ventilation. We also considered the user control to provide a healthy environment and facilitate energy efficient use. In addition to energy efficiency, the team also sought to cut water usage choosing products with low embodied water and fittings that consume less water during their usage.