Success Stories Chapel Hill Primary School and Nursery

Chapel Hill Primary School and Nursery

A vital, environmentally friendly educational resource for the next generation, learning in a growing Essex town.
Main Contractor: Barnes Construction
Project Value: £10.6 million
Services: Mechanical, Electrical, Commercial Solar PV

DPL Group’s installation of Mechanical and Electrical works at Chapel Hill Primary School and Nursery

After a successful tender process, DPL commenced work on constructing a brand new, state-of-the-art educational facility in Basildon, catering for 420 primary school pupils and 56 early years children, that would later be known as Chapel Hill Primary school and Nursery, in Basildon.

DPL was chosen as a result of its strong reputation for working to tight deadlines without compromising on quality and detail, in addition to its ongoing emphasis on social value and positive community impact.  We set about consulting closely with contractors and architects to fulfil the Lee Chapel Multi Academy Trust’s vision of providing buildings that would meet advanced Net Zero standards, reducing the facility’s environmental impact and reducing the energy consumption and running costs of the school. 

The school would be a two-storey building, with a main hall that divides the nursery and primary provision, 16 class bases, and a library. Outside, plans included a new multi-use games area and two grass football pitches.

 

Challenges

Turnaround times were tight, and the school needed to be ready to welcome its first cohort of pupils at the start of the 2024 academic year, in line with the introduction of 750 new homes in the local area. 

The completion date was immovable, and as such, we invested in additional resources and labour to counteract the lack of flexibility, and ensure the school would welcome students on time.



Over 20 years in buildings infrastructure

Name any industry, sector or type of building and we’ll have provided design, build and maintenance services for its power, light, heating, cooling, data, safety and security systems. And with concerns rising around costs and environmental impact, you’ll benefit from our expertise in greater efficiency and renewable energy sources.

Results

By installing air source heat pumps, variable temperature heating systems, energy-efficient LED lighting, and natural ventilation units with heat recovery, along with PV panels on the roof, we have constructed future-proofed and energy-efficient premises, with a dramatically reduced carbon footprint. 

The school is set to open on time, and our reliability and agile responses to challenges has enabled us to secure further work with the contractor. 

The Department for Energy produce a report, using energy modelling to accurately predict the energy consumption of a project prior to the construction opening. The report indicates that internal lighting, external lighting and small power show an improvement over the target. Heating, hot water and fans and pumps are predicted to be higher. However, with consideration to the totals, the predicted use is within the project target and conforms with and meets the department’s own benchmarks (52 kWh/m2) for sustainability. 

 

Working on the project

A group of passionate individuals all working towards the same goal: delivering excellence for clients in all aspects of building systems installation. From large-scale commercial, corporate and manufacturing premises through to high street retail and domestic properties of all sizes, we’ll have dealt with it before.

Mark Sorrell

Senior Mechanical Projects Engineer

Jason Newell

Electrical Project Manager


Optimise your building’s systems

Get in touch to speak to an expert about your service or sector needs. Simply complete the contact form and one of our specialists will be in touch shortly.

DPL Group Ltd.
Units 2 – 4 Greenwich Business Park
Greenwich Close, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP3 0DD

T: 01473 253 350 E: info@dpl-group.co.uk

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