School building project is a lesson in success

May 15 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

BUILDERS are looking back on a job well done after they completed work on one of the first schools to fall under the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

GB Building Solutions have finished work on Durham Johnston School in Crossgate Moor, Durham, which is the largest of its kind in the council and is at the forefront of environmentally friendly construction.

The £24m development saw the North East team of the national contractors GB Building Solutions build a mixture of two and three-storey buildings, comprising of an atrium connecting two wings of teaching blocks and a sports wing. The atrium block contains the teaching accommodation, the hall, dining areas, main entrance, administration and circulation spaces, while the teaching blocks contain classrooms with folding acoustic walls, which fold back to create open teaching spaces as well as areas for personal study.

The project is made all the more remarkable by the fact that the team at GB were able to keep disruption down to a minimum, with pupils at the old school building opposite able to improve on their results – with exams taking place in the new building just three days after being opened.

Martin Smout, chairman and chief executive of GB Building Solutions, said: “We knew it was a priority for the school and Durham County Council that the children could continue to learn with almost no disruption and I am really pleased to say that together we have achieved this.