McAvoy completes modular school 17 weeks early

Image: McAvoy

Modular specialist McAvoy has completed work on the £20m Lynch Hill Enterprise Academy in Slough 17 weeks ahead of schedule in only 53 weeks.

The three-storey, 94,000 sq ft building has a design inspired by Harvard Business School and is one of the UK’s largest ever modular schools. About 65% of the construction work was completed offsite at McAvoy’s production centre in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.

The 146 steel-framed modules installed with doors, windows, ironmongery, internal walls, plumbing, electrics and joinery already in place.

The academy will specialise in STEM subjects (McAvoy)

The project was funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Operated by the Learning Alliance Academy Trust, Lynch Hill is a 1,140-place academy free school campus specialising in science, technology, engineering and maths. The project has already been shortlisted for five industry awards.

Designed by Blue Sky Architects, the school features a full-height glazed entrance, a timber colonnade with brise soleil sunshading, and a palette of materials which includes render and timber-effect rainscreen cladding to harmonise the building in its semi-rural location.

The school features a number of technical advancements including steel-framed modules that were pre-clad in the factory. Larger 15.6m long units and a new lifting system were specially engineered for the project, reducing time, transport and installation costs, and further improving construction efficiency.

The building is clad in timber-effect rainscreen cladding (McAvoy)

Phil Clarke, project manager for the Lynch Hill scheme at the Education and Skills Funding Agency, said: “The main driver for offsite construction for this project was speed – and to see a building of this scale constructed so quickly was amazing. The McAvoy construction team was fantastic and demonstrated a high level of skill and flexibility.

“The combination of steel-framed construction and the offsite solution works really well and is seamless. You would never know this was a modular build.”

The scheme also accommodates a four-court sports hall, science laboratories and technology studios, a business and enterprise exchange to facilitate collaboration with local business, studios for music, drama and art, areas for informal learning, sixth form study and social space, facilities for special educational needs, and a kitchen and cafe.