The Challenge:
The Chase SEN, part of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS), provides a dedicated, self-contained educational resource in the Stroud Valleys. The Chase is focussed on nurturing and developing young people requiring high needs support who have a passion for learning catering, hospitality and enterprise, whilst also gaining the skills required to succeed and contribute within society.
Having completed the Stroud College Complex in 2007, we returned in 2018 as part of the Scape National Minor Works framework, to convert and regenerate an old disused engineering building into striking new modern facilities for disabled students. In addition to the mock commercial kitchen the team created a social lounge with a domestic kitchenette, lockers, soft seating area and a therapy room.
The Solution:
Working collaboratively with South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, we designed and fitted out an industry standard training kitchen and associated areas to create an environment where learners could develop professional skills and gain the techniques required to work in the modern hospitality and catering industry.
The kitchen is fitted to City and Guilds standards with each work station benefiting from cooking, preparation and wash-up areas.
The Impact:
The project was carried out next door to a music recording studio, so to ensure no noise transference the team used acoustic walls. There was also a particular challenge in designing and installing new ventilation and extraction systems within the restrictions of the existing layout. ‘Crosstalk Attenuation’ was used to stop reverberation and noise transferring through the ducts and ventilation system. The sizes and placement of ductwork had to be adapted to fit the existing building, enabling fire ratings etc to be maintained.
Extensive value engineering was carried out which resulted in the team re-arranging the layout design to reuse existing walls, thus removing the expense of demolishing them; existing doors were also used. Kier worked with the designers and SGS to bring the project within budget.
Kier provided induction and training for all staff and actively engaged in ‘soft landings’ at handover. They also organised a visit for students and parents to view the new facilities. As part of their social value commitment they also donated materials to the college’s construction department for building works.
Our work at The Chase SEN has been recognised within Kier and has been awarded ‘2019 Kier Central Project of the Year’ in the under £5m category. Contributing factors include being delivered on time and on budget and a 10/10 customer satisfaction score.
" Thanks so much for all of your hard work. The place looks amazing and the students (and staff) have been very excited about using such fabulous facilities. "Jane Stephens Head of Department Prep for Life and Work The CHASE
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