Read the case study below and answer ALL the questions that follow.

The Village School, A Special Educational Needs School

Overview

Built in the late $1960\text{'}$s$,$ the existing special educational needs school in the London Borough of Brent didn't meet today's

standards for children with complex needs. The majority of the existing school buildings were single storey and didn't hold

enough room for extra staff and equipment, also falling short of environmental standards. The new state$-$of$-$the$-$art facility,

known as 'The Village School'. supports some of the Borough's most vulnerable children and young people living with

disabilities. This includes those with Profound Multiple Leaming Difficulties, Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Severe Leaming

Difficulties and other highly complex needs.

Objectives

In order for the new school to make the most of the site and provide sufficient external play, ii was proposed that the new

building utilises the existing site by creating a two storey frontage. A $1,000$m$2$ new roof play deck would then be positioned

on the rear of the building, over$-$looking the Short Break Centre $($SBC$).$ The SBC provides respite care for the children and

parents, combining the provision currently housed elsewhere in the area. During the demolition of the existing school

buildings, it was agreed that the pupils would be moved to a temporary, new modular build facility with all associated

foundations, drainage, incoming services and external works to be provided.

Challenges

Examples of some of the problems the team were faced with included there not being enough toilets in the facility or

enough space for wheelchairs. The team ensured that the classrooms in the new facility have access to larger bathrooms,

and also built in wider corridors with two large lifts. Furthermore, pupils highlighted that the external play areas at the school

were limited$,$ and that they wanted bigger spaces within classrooms. The technical requirements of such a school could not

be underestimated. The need for hygiene rooms, sensory rooms, soft play rooms, NHS inclusion and specialist play

equipment meant that the team had to up$-$skill in various aspects of its work.

Resources

Funding for the scheme was achieved through a combination of solutions including a contribution from the Target Capital

Fund and capital receipts from the existing Short Break Centres, as well as other revenue savings. Also, the team

recognised that the consultation would need to be planned in such a way that it allowed the voice of even the most

profoundly disabled pupil to be heard. With many of the pupils having no conventional 'voice', they had to be listened to in

ways that were appropriate to their specific needs. They were shown a DVD entitled 'The Journey to Our New School', and

pupils who were able to express their views through speech, singing, eye$-$pointing met with the team. For those unable to

benefit from watching the DVD$,$ the team observed the pupils' day so they could produce evidence of what they enjoyed and

what was restricting further enjoyment.

Co$-$ordination

Co$-$ordination was key to success with this project. EC Harris identified early on that to achieve the greatest benefrts for

their client, the delivery team and contractor would need to buy$-$in to the project vision. It was instilled into the team that they

needed to understand their unique role and work as a cohesive unit. This was ensured by the stakeholder engagement and

management plan $-$ such as meeting the children, senior leadership workshops, innovative problem solving and design

solutions and contingency management. Following the first wave of consultations with other stakeholders, a stakeholder

management plan was developed to identify those individuals and groups being consulted and capture their key thoughts $-$

both positive and negative $-$ around the new building. The project team was aware that members of the school user$-$group

had previous experience of construction with their own lessons to share with the team. Therefore, ii was a priority of the

team that the school stakeholder group was engaged throughout the project lifecycle and that lessons learned workshops $-$

including consultations and health and safety observations $-$ were implemented.

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Successes

The new buildings have given some of the most vulnerable children and young people within the borough a positive

approach to schooling and respite care. The faci lity offers an inclusive community where opportunities are available for all,

improvements for Ofsted and an integrated and co$-$located education and respite service making use of shared facilities. It

also brings benefits for the local community, too, with the addition of a multi$-$use games area, sports hall, swimming pool,

drama and theatre performances and a cafe. There was a unanimous agreement within the team that this was a special

project and it was unlikely that they'd work on something of this stature again.