A new Vocational Skills Centre at Reading Girls School was built as part of Reading Borough Council’s plans to regenerate post 16 education in South Reading. The vocational subjects offered include hairdressing, beauty, childcare, health & social care, business, travel & tourism and the new centre also provides on-site crèche facilities for students with pre-school children.
Glanville was employed by the Contractor under the SECE Framework as the Civil and Structural Engineers for the project, including sub and super-structure, drainage and external works design, detailing and specification.
The new 1320 m2 facility was constructed on the existing car park at the front of the school site. The building consists of a new 2-storey teaching block and a single-storey nursery behind, with a central landscaped courtyard.
The £4.35m project incorporated sustainable materials and renewable energy technologies in order to achieve a BREEAM “Excellent” rating. The building is of steel-framed construction with composite steel and concrete first floor. The footings are deep concrete spread footings, designed to resist the seasonal volume changes and high water demand of nearby trees within the highly shrinkable clay soil.
