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At the end of August BYUK handed over phases 1-4 back to St Marylebone School, meaning that the students who returned after the summer break had two newly refurbished buildings to enjoy.
To mark this handover, BYUK met with Jon Hunter - Deputy Head Teacher at St Marylebone -to talk about the works before, during and after; focusing on how their lives were affected while the works were going on and what they have gained now that the refurbishment is complete. Mr Hunter was joined by representatives from the ICT Department and the English Department.
From the ICT Department’s perspective, staff members were impressed with the amount of space they now have. The server room is much improved, and there is a lot more office space. The teachers did feel fairly stretched at the time of the decant but as the school was aware that this would be a challenging time they planned accordingly.
When the department moved back into their refurbished accommodation, they were pleasantly surprised to have all rooms straight away with PCs back up and running. Head of ICT was even able to run a couple of days of staff training before term started which she hadn't thought would be possible.
As far as the pupils are concerned, they seemed to appreciate the new space, and there was a real 'wow' factor for the first couple of weeks after they moved back in. It's seen as a nice working environment with more consistent lighting, more storage, all of which make for a nicer place to be and a more efficient way of working.
The teachers and pupils from the English Department had similar views about the benefits of their newly refurbished block but there are also a few additional perks to their working environment. The English classrooms were previously in a cluster together meaning that one couldn’t access a classroom without walking through a neighbouring classroom. As part of the refurbishment, a new corridor has been created making a huge difference, even so far as improving student behaviour.
Bouygues UK Site Manager Veronique Tatarczuk and her team were all highly praised. The general feeling was that Bouygues is good at updating the school on what's going on and are also very quick to respond to queries and problems, even if not strictly within their remit. To quote 'we really felt the care of Bouygues UK, and that they would do whatever it took to get the school up and running in time'.
A challenge for Jon Hunter and his team is the interface between him and his staff and those from Bouygues. Naturally, the period during which the works take place can be a tense time for the school and for the parents of the pupils who attend the school. The way communications are handled will partly govern how successful the outcome is for all those affected.
All-in-all these first four phases have run smoothly and Bouygues UK looks forward to a successful ongoing relationship with St Marylebone School.
CdG - 25/01/2008
Prin/CdG - 25/01/2008
Junior QS - 25/01/2008
