Country: United Kingdom
Key Area: Buildings
Services: Civil Engineering,Structural Engineering

A new £9.9m school designed by Opus is complete, following an arson attack that devastated the original building. Opus undertook the civil, structural and geotechnical engineering design of the new Penyrheol School in Swansea, which has been re-built on the site of the old teaching block, which was destroyed by flames.

Swansea Council education cabinet member Mike Day said, "Everybody involved in delivering this fabulous facility on time and on budget deserves praise."

Features include a 10m high glass frontage to the three-storey entrance, a glazed atrium above the technology wing and a state of the art library/ teaching area. There is also a self-contained music department, a flexible-use dining room and an art department.

A steel frame was utilised to form the main structure with composite floor construction, to allow relatively large spans whilst minimising self weight. This reduced the overall depth of the floor construction and reduced the height of the building, thus providing cost savings for the client. The foundation design had several challenges due to building over existing shallow mine workings, which had to be part grouted to stabilise the ground prior to construction.

Grey water recycling was also incorporated into the drainage design, and helped the building to attain a BREEAM 'Very Good' rating.