Ninestiles School

This challenging project for Thomas Vale Construction had to be delivered in a tight timescale to meet funding requirements, and had to be built in a completely enclosed courtyard in the centre of the school. Portakabin was appointed to provide a two-storey classroom building constructed using its Portakabin Design and Build solution. Off-site construction was chosen because of the constraints of the courtyard site, which had no vehicular access. It allowed the building structure to be prefabricated and partially fitted out in the factory, before being craned into position over the existing school in just a few days.

Working in partnership with the project team, Portakabin programmed the lifting operation for the half-term holiday, so there was no safety risk to pupils and no disruption to teaching.

Christine Quinn, Principal of Ninestiles School, says: “The installation phase was exciting and impressive, and whilst we feared a high level of disruption during construction, this actually wasn’t the case at all and school life continued unhindered."

The building features brick cladding to the ground floor with a contrasting white finish to the upper floor, a full-height glazed stairwell and a glazed link corridor to the main school building. The facility also has a high-performance concrete floor throughout, which was pre-installed in the factory to further reduce work on site. This robust floor is used for high-traffic areas and to reduce sound transmission.