Oaks Day Nursery

A brand-new, fit-for-purpose nursery to replace the inadequate, temporary buildings which had stood for many years.

Location

Kent

Client

Jenner Group

Value

£1.4m

Build System

Kingspan TEK®

The Project

The University of Kent had offered children’s day nursery facilities to staff and students for many years at a site adjoining Keynes College. The nursery operated from temporary buildings which were beyond their effective life and not suitable for redevelopment. The biggest challenge of this project was to design, manufacture and construct a large nursery building in a demanding timescale that enabled the main contractor to complete the entire build in 24 weeks.

The Design

The requirements for the new building were that it should provide a new facility to cater for 90 nursery places. The solution developed by Lee Evans Partnership LLP was a single storey building with 2 asymmetric low pitched roofs and 4 rooms for the children, each with related facilities. Jenner Group were appointed as main contractor following a 2-stage tender process, and the scheme was valued at £1.4 million, impressively only taking 24 weeks to construct from start to finish. The layout of the building was heavily child-centric, with particular considerations given to the provision of a safe and secure environment. Kingspan Timber Solutions provided a building envelope using Kingspan TEK®. The SIPs panels were wrapped around a series of glulam frames and the structure took an impressive 6 weeks to construct. The outside covered spaces were framed in large sections of Douglas Fir with expressed bolted connections.