Campus works
Future major capital projects Planning approval has been received for The Orchard and Old Blew Link, on which work began early in 2017, with completion for the new academic year in September. This project will unify the two boarding units, via a single storey glass link, into one cohesive boarding house, with a Common Room to the rear of the Orchard providing a meeting place for all 55 boarders.
In the year under review, as well as delivering £2.2 million (2014/15: £1.6 million) of specific minor buildings projects, the College invested just under £5.5 million on The Laboratory, a new state of the art facility for Science and a venue for the Arts. Phase one was completed in April 2015 and works then began on phase two, which was completed on time and to budget in June 2016. The new building has delivered an outstanding teaching and learning facility which has been widely admired and already used extensively by the community and other schools. Phase two further develops this opportunity with a 240 seat auditorium, ‘Informatics’ IT creative spaces and additional laboratories for the Junior and Lower Schools. The Governors committed to funding the full Laboratory project, at a total cost of £21.7 million, on the basis that it would be funded by borrowing £10.6 million from the College’s endowment, charitable donations of £5.9 million and funding the balance from annual surpluses and bank borrowing if necessary. As at 31 July 2016, the total cash spent on the project was £20.7 million, of which £4.5 million had been raised from charitable donations. A further £800,000 is pledged towards this project taking the total pledged income to £5.3 million. Another significant project completed in the year was the renovation and refurbishment of the Hockey artificial pitch, at a cost of £500,000, in use by both College pupils and, outside school hours, by community sports groups.
Work on the Barry Buildings has now begun to repair the terracotta facades at high level on the Centre Block and the contractors moved in as soon as Michaelmas Term 2016 ended. The entirety of the Centre Block will be shrouded in scaffolding and white monoflex for the whole of 2017, while expert stonemasons and craftsmen carry out the intricate work of
cutting out and replacing damaged and failing terracotta and cleaning and repairing the façade and windows. The works are essential and unavoidable as part of the College’s custodial responsibility for the preservation of this important architecture. Parallel to these external works, planning is in an advanced stage for the internal refurbishment of the Barry Buildings, which will restore and upgrade 50 classrooms, teaching staff offices and the corridors of North and South Blocks. This is a mammoth and complex task which will be delivered in phases, one floor at a time, decanting teaching departments into the green portacabins previously used by Science. Classrooms will
9
Made with FlippingBook Online document