JBH Refurbishments was contracted by Eagle House Group to complete the school refurbishment for their new facility, ‘Bramley’ in Tadworth, Surrey. Having used JBH Refurbishments before, the school’s management were confident that JBH was the ideal fit out contractor for the job in hand.
However, this was no simple interior fit out, this was a school refurbishments project that demanded extensive interior and exterior renovations. Once complete, the property would provide a comfortable and inspiring space, where Eagle House Group could provide a “highly specialised therapeutic provision” for 36 children, aged 5-16 with autism and additional specialist needs.
Eagle House Group offers specialist primary, secondary and sixth form education for children with autism and additional needs. Founded by Julia Pithouse in 2004, with the sole intention to provide support for autistic children and their families, Eagle House Group now occupies four sites within the vicinity of South London and Surrey.
Eagle House Group’s school sites present a combination of indoor and outdoor learning spaces for group and one-to-one teaching for children aged five through to sixth form education. The latest site opened by the Group is in Tadworth, Surrey and is known at Eagle House Group (Bramley). JBH Refurbishments was selected at the fit out contractor for the project.
This was not the first project for Eagle House Group that JBH Refurbishments was contracted to complete. Last year, JBH was the fit out contractor of choice for the development of Strawberry Lodge Sixth Form Centre in Charshalton, Sutton, which opened in September 2018.
Eagle House Group was delighted with the project and were quick to secure a competitive quotation for their next site in Surrey. JBH Refurbishments came up trumps and began work on the run-down property property in May 2019.
The Tadworth property was an old house that over the years had been heavily extended as an education facility. It had been left abandoned for some time and the condition of the property was very poor. Inside there were collapsed ceilings, the walls needed extensive repair, the drainage needed attention and there was evidence of asbestos throughout the premises.
The proposed interior and exterior refurbishment was extensive, yet the end result would provide a spacious learning centre with facilities that could also benefit the surrounding community.
Central to the property was the main house, which spanned two floors and featured 16 rooms (8 on each level). The additional buildings included:
- An art block with three rooms
- Primary block with six rooms, a lobby and two washrooms
- Dining hall and kitchen
- Sports hall
Once complete the school building and outdoor grounds would offer a wide range of facilities to enhance their learning environment at Eagle House Group (Bramley), including:
- Art therapy room
- Sensory room
- IT suite
- Music room
- Science lab
- Individual workspaces
- Communal dining room
- Gym
- Outdoor play area
- Multi use games area
- Large sports field
The JBH Refurbishments team began the school refurbishment project with a complete strip out of the existing flooring, collapsed ceilings, washrooms, electrics and external fittings and fixtures that were no longer required. Specialists were called in to safely remove the asbestos that was present throughout the building.
Once the strip out was complete, work commenced on the interior fit out. Throughout the property, the damaged walls were over boarded and plastered, the suspended ceilings were replaced. LED lux panel lighting was neatly installed to provide ample light within the classrooms.
On the stairs of the main building, the upper banisters were removed and replaced with a jumbo partition wall. The wall facilitated an enclosed stairwell with aluminium banisters on each side of the stairs.
The flooring was replaced throughout the building with a combination of commercial carpet and vinyl.
The electrical installation included the provision of the IT suites and digital learning equipment.
In the various external buildings, JBH installed skylights with aluminium frames to let in plenty of natural light.
Perhaps the most challenging aspects of the school’s interior fit out was the DA toilet and shower room. To accommodate the DA shower, the shower tray needed to be flush with the floor for easy wheelchair access. As a result, the floor needed to be dug out to be made lower, and new waste pipes installed to ensure the floor areas was fully flat. Once complete, the floor was finished with a waterproof grey vinyl.
The remaining washrooms were fitted with new toilets, blue and cream full height cubicles, coordinating vanity units and IPS panelling to conceal the cisterns.
The JBH team installed two tea points as part of the school refurbishment. These comprised gloss white units and worktops.
In the kitchen, the existing units and work surfaces were in good condition, so JBH Refurbishments simply ensured the ventilation was compliant with gas safety.
The cafeteria is set in the large outbuilding with exposed beams within the ceiling. In here, The JBH Refurbishments team fully redecorated the area, installed new lighting and vinyl flooring. The resultis a large bright and open seating area for communal dining that can be extended as required thanks to the cosortina wall partition.
Outside, the building was in much need of a facelift and required disabled access ramps to the various outbuildings. The exterior refurbishment included:
- Decoration of the external walls of all the building
- Installation of wheelchair access ramps
- Replacement external cladding
- Groundworks for external first fix electrical cabling to power the electric security gates
The school refurbishment for Eagle House Group was completed in 17 weeks to meet the September opening deadline.
“It was an absolute pleasure to once again work with the team at Eagle House Group,” explains, Project Manager, Dave Newing. “While this was an extensive exterior and interior refurbishment, the project was very straight forward. The most challenging aspects were the sheer amount of asbestos throughout the building and the DA shower installation, which was a necessary requirement to meet building regulations for the school development.”
“All-in-all we were very happy with the outcome and delighted to have been involved in creating such an incredible space for the children at Eagle House Group to enjoy.”
To find out more about JBH Refurbishments’ interior fit out, school refurbishments and school maintenance services, please contact our team.
