Young blood

With huge areas of exposed concrete regulating interior temperatures and an automated louvre system allowing natural ventilation, the David Young Academy provides a 21st century learning environment that teaches budding architects, planners and engineers by shining example.

Heavy industrial equipment and CAD machines lend an authentic feel to technology areas at this inspiring new school; one of the few in the UK where pupils can study for a BTEC in construction from year 10.

Haden Young’s Leeds team provided the m&e design and build services for the ecologically forward-thinking project, bringing consultant Waterman and Gore onboard for the initial brief.

Work began in September 2005 and, despite the hopes and prayers of many a pupil craving an extended summer holiday, the fast-track project was completed on time for its first intake in September 2006. “The construction wasn’t where we wanted it by Christmas last year,” admits project manager Andy Bailey. “The roof wasn’t water tight, for example. But by January, everyone had pulled their fingers out and it progressed really well from then on.”

The school, which provides education for 11 to 18 year olds in the East Leeds area, forms part of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) City Academies Programme, a flagship scheme which aims to raise levels of achievement in deprived inner city areas. It was built on a greenfield site, replacing two schools in the neighbouring area; Agnes Stewart CE High School and Braim Wood Boys’ High School.

The ambitious initiative was sponsored by the Church of England Diocese of Ripon and Leeds and is named after former bishop David Young, who worked as an engineer whilst studying theology.

M&E work terminated around the £3.5 million mark. “The original contract was for £2.7 million, but there were a lot of fit-outs, a lot of unknowns. In fact, 20% of the budget was unknown when we started out,” explains Bailey. “IT in particular was a major one. The school wanted more and more rooms with IT access as we went along, so more cooling and ventilation were needed. The plant spaces on the roofs have grown as more kit has been added. There wasn’t a set of drawings from day one, setting in stone how we wanted to do it. It was design and build down until the very last day.”

According to a recent National Audit Office report, two thirds of the first academy buildings have suffered cost overruns averaging £3 million. David Young, however, isn’t one of them. The overall project was completed within budget, albeit with a few sacrifices along the way. Amongst other changes, plans to construct a huge video wall from plasma screens in the reception area were discarded, and a canvas covering to protect the central recreation area in rainy weather was scrapped in favour of additional CCTV cameras. “As it turned out in the end, we didn’t need to sacrifice the cover, because the quantity surveyor kept overestimating and we ended up handing £600 000 back,” says Bailey. “But I think that money actually enabled us to get the project completed on time, because the main contractor, HBG, had a 70% retention on anything handed back, but they only got that if they were finished on schedule. It’s a good incentive.”

Brand new school of thought

The reception area sets the pace for a rather unusual school environment. Gone is the functional plastic seating and drab pin boards. In their place, funky bespoke sofas and sculptured shelving with all the hallmarks of a contemporary Swedish furniture shop. The walls and soft furnishings have been carefully selected in varying shades of green, and the overall effect is natural and calming. So calming in fact, it barely seems out of place when Jack Johnson’s lilting tones come drifting through the PA, signifying the end of first period in lieu of the usual piercing bell.

Teaching spaces are modern, bright and breezy, with luminaires directing light upwards as well as down, diffusing it into every corner. “Modularising all the light fittings was a standard for us,” says Bailey. “Flexible cables were already attached, lamps were put in place and units were boxed up. We even had a room number on them so we knew where we were taking them and putting them in the ceiling.”

Ceilings are kept low at David Young – the antithesis of all those cold and imposing high-walled Victorian schoolrooms. There’s certainly no blaming the acoustics if homework deadlines are conveniently misheard.

Localised cooling is kept to a minimum, mainly in areas with high concentrations of ICT. Automatic detectors mean the window louvres open to their full capacity if a room reaches temperatures greater than 21°C. “It’s a very efficient system, as it takes virtually no energy to open and close the louvers,” says Bailey. “The only negative side is that, on windy days, there’s likely to be some whistling through them.”

When it comes to interior design, services installation refuses to take a back seat. Ducts, fittings and distribution boards are displayed prominently throughout the school, giving an industrial feel to many of the work areas. The idea is to familiarise pupils with that which usually stays behind the scenes, arousing their curiosity with regards to m&e and construction in general.

In an age where children are pushed into gaining university places regardless of ability or aspirations, and where skilled construction workers are dwindling at an alarming rate, it is refreshing to see an institute adopt such a hands-on approach.

But kids will be kids, and not everything is up for grabs. The floor boxes were custom made with stainless steel locks and catches. “They’re really robust,” explains Bailey. “They had to be – all it would take is for one of the children to open one up and pour something down there and that would be it!” For the same reason, the team selected particularly tough data trunking by Rehau.

Team work

The building’s unusual curved shape meant that the installation was not a standard one, so the team decided to take an in situ approach. “One thing we did was to put a common m&e bracket down the corridors,” explains Bailey. “The electrical side of things was dealt with first, and then the mechanical. It was that sort of sharing and caring attitude.”

Haden Young also worked closely with furniture manufacturers British Thornton, co-ordinating crucial installations such as trunking for interactive whiteboards with specialised desks and workstations.

Interactive whiteboard and projector systems are fast becoming commonplace in modern schools, but it’s worth paying close attention when ordering. “There are different types available and that’s definitely something to watch out for,” Bailey advises. “We agreed a layout with the IT consultant and he said he was going to specify one with integrated speakers. But when they turned up they had separate ones, so they needed an extra socket fitted. Whiteboards are quite an animal. They can be difficult to install. Or at least, people can make it difficult.”

One chief difficulty was waiting for specialists to make up their minds what equipment the school needed. “The consultants would say we needed one thing, then the staff would come along and suggest another,” says Bailey. “We were told we weren’t having a furnace at one point, but you can’t keep chopping and changing with something like that because you need the extractor system.”

The clash between consultants and staff members is made all too apparent as Bailey enters the food technology room to a torrent of complaints from a ruddy-faced, rather feisty teacher. The catering specialists have enraged the head chef and, unfortunately, it’s the m&e team who have to face the music.

The sudden movement of heated air when the industrial ranges are switched on calls for rapid extraction, but the space now becomes uncomfortably cold on winter days. In fact, the food room proved more challenging than any other for Haden Young. “Industrial cookers put out far more energy than domestic ones, which would have been more suitable,” explains Bailey. “The environment is too harsh, because the ventilation runs as if every cooker’s on at full tilt and that’s never the case, but the regulations say you must have it in place. I think the consultants were off the mark.”

Facilities management

The school has its own internal facilities management team, a distinct advantage on a project of this size. “The relationship we had with facilities manager Graham Thornton worked well,” says Bailey. “Having an in-house maintenance team meant we could get in there straight away if there was a problem.”

Thankfully, however, they have run into few difficulties since the handover. “The worst thing that’s happened is a pump failure,” says Andy. “The motor burnt out and we’ve changed that now.”

Facilities management could have their work cut out with Haden Young’s security system. The school boasts a whopping 57 security cameras and, in a slightly Orwellian move, giant plasma screens dotted about the building broadcast footage of pupils going about their everyday business.

Full intruder detection was installed on the ground floor, and the ability to lock down specific areas has been incorporated into the key card system. Thornton explains: “We have a magnetic lock system with access controls, as the sports area is available for out-of-hours community use.”

But vice principal Steve Burrows has issues with the mag locks. As part of the British Standard, all mag lock systems must have a green break-glass unit containing a door release switch to prevent people from getting trapped inside. Burrows cannot see why the measure is needed. After all, the system is disabled automatically in the event of a fire alert. When Bailey patiently explains that pupils must have an escape route, the deputy appears perplexed: “But I don’t want them to get out.”

The lock-down approach doesn’t seem to have rubbed off on Haden Young, though. “We had a cluster of cabins just down the road from the academy and we were within shouting distance of HBG – we’d take the doors off so we could hear each other’s conversations” says Bailey. “The academy is a stand-alone project, but HBG is a regular business provider. I think that’s why they like using us. We’ve all played football together as well and we did a charity bike ride recently.”

Whoever said that school days are the best of your life had clearly been living it up on site with Haden Young. Or at least, HGB seem to think so. The two companies are working together again this year, bidding for a new grammar school project in Leeds.