Smitham Primary School

Playle & Partners LLP were appointed as Quantity Surveyors, Client CDM and Principal Designer on a 1FE school expansion project for Smitham Primary School in Coulsdon Surrey. Works involved the creation of a new classroom block with the refurbishment of teaching accommodation along with site-wide landscaping to remove the existing need for temporary accommodation solutions and mobile classrooms.

The proposal will achieve policy requirements for a 3FE school to suit growth in pupil numbers. The size of the proposed development has been driven by the need to retain the year group cluster arrangement with 3 classrooms and a shared a space. Due to the sprawling issue with extending each existing year cluster, the new build block will provide teaching spaces for Years 4-6, where the existing school will be remodelled to provide 3 classrooms and shared space cluster for Years 1- 3, including Reception. There is also a shortage of office and staff accommodation and this has been integrated into the proposals, as part of the remodelling works to include spaces such as training rooms and offices.

For the new build classroom, a combination of cross-laminated timber for floors, roof, external and internal load bearing walls was used together with steam beams and columns for the structural framing elements. This was to suit the architectural space planned out by HNW Architects.
As a more cost effective solution a raft foundation was used as opposed to strip foundations.

Structural Engineers, Lyons O’Neill designed a new infiltration system to discharge additional surface water run-off due to the extra impermeable area from the site to the water table.