Environmental firm, SLR Consulting, has been appointed to develop landscape designs for seven new schools being constructed across the North East of England as part of the Government's Priority School Building Programme (PSBP).
SLR's landscaping team, led by Principal Nick Jaszynski from the company's Newcastle office, forms part of a consortium made up of Sir Robert McAlpine (SRM), _space Architecture and Parsons Brinkerhoff. SLR is working on schemes for seven schools following SRM's appointment earlier this year to construct nine new PSBP schools in the region.
"These are exciting and challenging projects to be involved with, especially given the tight timeframes," said Nick Jaszynski.
"Following an intensive six week bid-process, where we worked alongside _space Architecture to develop and design a sample scheme for the Ian Ramsey Academy in Stockton, we are now working on completing all seven designs for planning submissions by midsummer. This fast turnaround will enable a schedule based on construction starting on site in September and the completion of all projects by September 2015."
The Department of Education's (DfE) design criteria includes providing future-proof schemes that offer opportunities for outdoor teaching as well as social, sports and recreational activities.
"These projects range from a large secondary School (Ian Ramsey Academy) for 1,250 students to a number of small primary schools located in Durham and Gateshead, as well as a number of Special Educational Needs schools – all of which require a different approach in the design ethos," added Nick.
SLR's has also been appointed to handle ecology work on all nine schools in the North East being developed by SRM as part of the PSBP programme, which form one of the first large batches to be released as part of the DfE's centrally funded school improvement initiative.
