Another Sure Start Childrens Centre project has just been successfully completed at St Marys VC Lower School in Stotfold, Bedfordshire.
Red Bear Childrens Centre offers a range of workshops, training sessions, outreach services and general helpful advice to families with children under 5 years old. St Marys Lower School has always been actively involved with the local community, and so provided an ideal location for the Children’s Centre.
When Bedford Borough Council offered Footsteps Nursery the opportunity to move to a new location they jumped at the chance. The only proviso was that it had to be achieved in just six months before the start of term in September and this included obtaining planning permission, removing an old modular unit, and designing, constructing and fitting out a new building.
Refurbishment and construction works have reached completion stage at Maple Tree Lower School in Sandy, Bedfordshire in time for the start of term in September. PCMS have designed and project managed the contract to complete works on new facilities for children and staff.
The existing early years classroom needed reconfiguring in order to provide the space for additional after school and holiday care. A feasibility study identified areas that could be changed and extended so that a nursery and kids club could be accommodated. The project as a whole inevitably involved a degree of disturbance to normal school activities. However, with careful project management and a phased approach to operations, disruption was kept to a minimum and the school was able to run smoothly throughout.
Work has just finished on a smart new dining hall at Laburnum Lower School in Sandy, Bedfordshire.
Due to lack of available space in the main school, meals had previously been served in a temporary modular unit. Central Bedfordshire Council organised its removal, and then local contractors immediately began work on the construction of a new brick built free-standing dining hall. The construction schedule was tight, and time on site was limited to only a few months. Works were completed on time and on budget.
PCMS were approached recently by Wycombe Carpet Centre to solve a problem for them. They had outgrown the carpet storage facility on site, and needed to find a way to store additional materials in safe, secure and stable conditions.
We came up with a straight forward solution. The yard to the rear of the shop unit was carefully assessed, and we proposed demolishing the existing shed and replacing it with a purpose built two-storey unit of permanent construction. The new storage unit will be more flexible, and makes available a sizeable increase in storage capacity. This will allow Wycombe Carpet Centre to hold more stock, and consequently offer a better service to customers.
A new pre-school building on the site of Putnoe Lower School was officially opened by the Mayor of Bedford recently. Overdale Tots was previously operating from a spare classroom in the main building, but facilities were inadequate for the operation of a modern pre-school. So funding was secured from the Local Authority for a new specially designed building in the school grounds, with a place setting for 25 children.
PCMS recently contributed a Case Study to ‘Nursery World’ magazine, which appeared in the Spring ‘Nursery Management’ supplement published last week.
The Bedfordshire town of Sandy has recently seen the opening of a new Children’s Centre. PCMS were commissioned by the Early Childhood Intervention & Prevention team at Central Bedfordshire Council to design a purpose-built Sure Start Children’s Centre in the grounds of Laburnum Lower School. The site had limited space, so after carrying out a detailed feasibility study we proposed extending an existing wing of the school in a sympathetic way so as not to affect the overall profile and appearance of the old brick school building. This also minimised the impact on the school grounds and play areas.
Construction works were carried out by Meadsway Construction Ltd of Bedford, whilst PCMS acted as project manager and CDM Co-ordinator.