Bexley Schools

Client: Bexley Council
Main Contractor: Skanska
Subcontractor: James & Co, Carlton Ceilings & Partitions

Project Profile

Drylining products and steel building systems from Knauf Drywall are helping two secondary schools in Bexley, Kent, to provide excellent learning environments to meet the needs of 21st century pupils.

The 690 children entering Year 7 at Bexleyheath and Welling schools in September will be among the first to benefit from large-scale re-development of the existing sites. The schools are big, accommodating 2,100 and 1,500 pupils respectively.

At both schools, restricted space has been an issue until now. The new scheme is part of a multi-million pound investment under the Government’s Private Finance Initiative, that will provide much needed modern facilities. It involves the construction, by main contractor Skanska, of new teaching blocks and sports and dining halls totalling 17,500 square metres, plus extensive renovation of the existing school facilities of 12,000 square metres. Both schools remained fully operational throughout the re-development.

The Knauf Drywall technical team worked with two different sub-contractors, James & Co for the steel building systems and Carlton Ceilings and Partitions for the high performance plasterboard systems specified for internal use.

Like all school environments, durability, fire performance and aesthetics were all key performance indicators that had to meet the grade at both schools.

About 7,000m² of Knauf Wallboard has been used in the classrooms, communal areas and libraries. For areas exposed to high foot traffic, such as corridors, Knauf Denseshield enhances impact resistance and durability.

Up to 6,000m² of Knauf Fireshield provides superior fire protection to the steelwork and fire-rated partitions between the classrooms. In addition, Fireshield has also been used in conjunction with Knauf’s Shaftwall system on CT studs around the riser areas.

Carlton Ceilings and Partitions fitted the Wallboard, Denseshield and Fireshield on to 92mm Knauf ‘C’ Studs to form an extremely strong partition ideally suited to the school environment.

Graham Chadwick for CCP explains why he likes to work with Knauf Drywall: "The company offers competitively priced products and an excellent back up service through its team of representatives who have provided expert technical advice throughout all stages of the design and construction process."