City Heights Academy will be opening its doors to students in September this year with a brand new, purpose-built campus featuring uniquely designed fencing.
The Academy will be a non-denominational, co-education school for young people aged between 11 and 19, and will share a site with Fenstanton Primary School which is already based there and forms part of the site-wide development.
Fencing specialist CLD Fencing Systems has purpose-made the decorative fencing to add an aesthetic affirmation of the connection between the primary school and academy, as well as to provide safety and security for the students.
Working alongside landscape architects Place Design + Planning and the team at Carillion plc which were responsible for the project, CLD Fencing Systems manufactured the unique boundary fencing to a creative specification, to separate both schools, the car park and to make use of the fence as a visual spectacle.
Nick Willmore, landscape architect at Place Design + Planning, explains: “Although City Heights is a completely new academy, it is sharing a site and services with Fenstanton Primary School.
“Our design concept for the fencing incorporated the colour scheme used by both schools and the brise-soleil specified by the architects, ranging from yellows for the primary school to darker reds and oranges for the academy.”
“The main element of this fence is the posts. We asked CLD Fencing Systems to use a post that was both broad and narrow, to create a ‘fin’ effect along its 75m length, while still being able to work with its Dulok system. We also positioned the posts close together on the outside of the site which means the coloured posts ‘obscure’ the weldmesh to those walking along the adjacent path, focussing the attention on the coloured posts.”
A spokesperson at CLD Fencing Systems explains: “The 1.8 m high fencing was specially produced to create a unique effect around the schools, affirm their connection, and divide the playground from the car park to ensure safety for the students.
“As well as the aesthetic perimeter fencing for the development, we also supplied the Dulok Sports System for the sports pitches and other boundaries.”
The Dulok range of wire panel systems is always specified for football grounds and similar sports facilities where a secure, high performance fence is required.
CLD Fencing Systems expands: “Our Dulok range has recently been specified by another school in Derby as perimeter security fencing for multi-games areas (MUGAs) and ball courts. We supplied 1,500m of Dulok sports fencing with retractable pitch dividing net systems which allow the full pitch to be divided up into smaller pitches by net curtains.
“The Dulok multi-use games area fencing is modular and holds many advantages during the layout and planning stage. Panels, goals, gates and accessories can be incorporated in any position within the modular layout – an effective solution for planners, landscape architects and installers alike.”