Wixams Academy

The new village of Wixams in Bedford had undergone rapid growth following a number of housing developments. With the population growing in the area, a new school development became necessary to ensure young residents had access to secondary education.

Providing Project Management and Cost Management services from start to completion, we worked closely with the local authority and the design and build contractor to successfully deliver the new Wixams Academy.

One of the requirements of the scheme was delivering the school using Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) rates which are geared towards delivering schools at a particular cost. This required extensive value engineering to make the concept design fit a restrictive funding envelope set by the ESFA.

Accessing the construction site was a major issue due to the lack of infrastructure. Developing the access necessary to undertake the project would add additional costs which required additional monitoring.

We rationalised the ESFA specification to the concept produced by the client's design team, with a focus on removing areas where value was not being added, or where the contribution to the teaching and learning experience was minimal. We achieved capital savings through measures including a rationalised plan shape, reduced corridor widths, and reductions to the storey height and internal cubic volume of the building.

To resolve the issue of site access costs, proposals were put forward to construct a haul road for the duration of the project, but these were too expensive. However, our team proactively sought an alternative and engaged an adjacent landowner who agreed to share the use of their private road for the duration of the project.