Northmoor Academy, Oldham

We provided the detailed building services design for this project in Oldham, Greater Manchester, which provides a new 3FE Design and Build Primary School. The site was originally a three storey Secondary School.  The first stage of the project was to completely demolish the building.

The project was to develop a 2 storey block, with a steel framed assembly hall. The building was finished with a combination of render, rain screen cladding and curtain walling with brise soleil to the south facing elevations.  The facility also includes science rooms, one to one teaching rooms, sensory rooms and staff office facilities. On the ground floor there is a reheat kitchen and dance studio, as well as a purpose built assembly hall with acoustic ceilings and central dividing walls for flexibility of use.

The facility benefits from underfloor heating systems. Natural vent stacks are fitted in the assembly hall via breathable building design and a bespoke plant room is installed on a metal deck floor at first floor level, within the assembly hall structure. The building was fitted with a full sprinkler system, fed directly from a dedicated fire main.

Externally, the building sits on a 3 tier site. The new school facility sits on the upper tier on the site and we created a pathway design to flow down the levels. On the middle tier, there is an amphitheatre style outdoor seating area, overlooking a grass play area / performance area for use during the Spring and Summer months. Moving down to the lower level on site, there is a purpose built 3F sports pitch, designed to allow a full U-11 soccer pitch, 3 junior pitches and 3 tennis courts on the marked layout. There is also an adjacent hard surfaced MUGA play area with fencing and external lighting.