Building work has begun on a former high school site in Norwich to transform it into a purpose built, environmentally friendly academy.
The £21 million Open Academy project is a first for Norwich and is being constructed using a complete timber frame structure. The structure consists of a three storey auditorium surrounded by ‘learning zones’ as well as outdoor classrooms to provide opportunities for learning about the environment.
Kier Eastern, the building contractor on the project, called upon easi-edge to provide a solution for their edge protection requirements. Having not applied easi-edge to timber frame structures before, development work was required to adapt the existing bolt-on edge protection to fix effectively to a timber frame.
Senior Project Manager for Kier, Robert Olley said of utilising easi-edge on this project, “Following a presentation of the easi-edge system, the Open Academy team approached easi-edge to see how their traditional steel frame system could be adapted for use on a cross laminated timber panel structure.
During a period of review and development, we found easi-edge to be enthusiastic and proactive with ideas, and through close liaison with the site team, Kier Engineering Services and KLH Structures, plates and brackets were modified, tested and proven to meet the requirements of safe and easy construction whilst accommodating the use of standard easi-edge panels.
We have been extremely pleased with the development of the easi-edge scheme. It minimises the risks of working at height, is faster to install and more versatile than traditional scaffolding edge protection.”
‘Green’ features of the new build include biomass boilers which burn wood pellets or wood chip, zoned heating to make the building more efficient, rainwater harvesting and solar thermal water heating.
To involve students with the construction of the new Academy, Kier is to provide learning opportunities which will allow first hand experience of construction processes as the building unfolds.
easi-edge is pleased to be part of such a worthwhile and interesting project which is due for completion September 2010. |
