British engineering expertise is helping a new school deliver community benefits beyond the norm.
Wynne Construction has been commissioned by Gwynedd Council to construct the new £13million Ysgol Hafod Lon Newydd, in Penrhyndeudraeth, for 100 pupils with special educational needs from the Meirionydd and Dwyfor areas of the county.
Under the contract, Wynne Construction aimed to deliver optimum community benefits, including giving practical work experience for college students, employing apprentices, and helping provide training opportunities through the local supply chain. Curriculum engagement activities have included site visits by the college students and teaching the children from the existing Hafod Lon school about health & safety. The community benefits further extended to the building design, with sustainable strategies employed throughout, including bespoke-engineered louvres screening plant on the roof to reduce the visual impact on the surrounding area.
Air movement specialist Gilberts (Blackpool) Ltd was specified to design and engineer the louvres and support steelwork. Employing its in-house technical expertise, Gilberts used British-sourced aluminium and steel to create the screen, which extends to 28m long, and is over 2m high. The completed structure hides the air handling units and mechanical plant from view, and reduces exposure to and impact of the local weather, whilst allowing good airflow around the plant to optimise efficient operation.
“The whole school has been designed to minimise its environmental impact, with a BREEAM target of excellent, a ‘fabric first’ approach to the build, biomass heating, and a sedum roof, among other elements,” explained Gilberts’ Sales Director Ian Rogers. “As the experts in air movement, and a local supplier, we were chosen to devise a solution that would continue that low environmental impact approach. We used aluminium processed in the UK, and steel from Wales. Every component we supplied we designed and manufactured ourselves, in our factory just up the coast from the school.”
All Gilberts’ systems are engineered to order. Founded over 55 years ago, privately owned Gilberts is unique in having its own, on-site (85,000ft2) manufacturing facility, producing, in-house, engineered solutions, with an in-house test centre. These have combined to establish the company as Britain’s leading independent air movement specialist, supplying grilles, louvres and diffusers for mechanical and natural ventilation.The company prides itself on its ability to execute, in-house, every element of a product, from design through tooling to manufacture.