Name of Project: Waverley Junior Academy, Rotherham
Architect: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Client: Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Waverley Junior Academy is a new school development, opened in late 2020 as part of the wider planning requirements for the Waverley village development in South Yorkshire.
The new school has a capacity of 420 pupils up to the age of eleven, built to serve the wider Waverley community, a new neighbourhood built as part of the Waverley Advanced Manufacturing Park on the site of a former colliery. The single/two storey design forms a two form entry school with a single storey Autism Unit and an exterior that blends into the buildings around it, in line with local design criteria and using local materials in a vernacular style to comply with Waverley Planning Code. The school was designed so that a number of its facilities – including the space set aside for its breakfast club and the Autism Unit – can be opened up to community groups out of hours, without people needing to access the main building itself. This makes the access control requirements for the new academy school particularly rigorous.
What we offered
Em-B collaborated closely with the Architect, at Rotherham Metropolitan Brough Council, from the outset of the project, bringing ironmongery and access control expertise to every aspect of the design. Em-B and the Architect, James Cox, have a long-standing and successful relationship, and at Waverley they worked together to build a hardware schedule that would function across the piece including special items like classroom locks, finger guards and hinge protection, all designed to be long-lasting and hardwearing for true sustainability in the busy school environment.
Stainless steel door furniture was chosen with the team ensuring that all levers and pull handles had complementary roses to improve visual differentiation from the door and ensure Approved Document M compliance. Cross corridor doors featured concealed overhead closers and hold open devices to allow free and unincumbered flow of pupils and staff throughout the school. Em-B also supplied toilet cubicles and all associated hardware featuring a fully flush design for aesthetics, long life, and easier cleaning but, in particular, for its rather unique integrated finger protection.. Safehinge integral finger guards feature throughout the school, chosen not just for functionality and aesthetics but all for their robust design.
What the architect said:
“We have a great working relationship with Em-B, and they have become our go-to contacts for ironmongery, based on the expertise and advice they can give us. They understood the complex needs of this project and supported us from the outset. Any problems have been sorted without fuss and they understood our need for a hardwearing, quality specification so that we could achieve real sustainability through longevity. As architects we need experts, like Em-B, to aid us to ensure that projects run smoothly, that everything is compliant, and that it will continue to function throughout the building’s life.”
James Cox, Architect, Rotherham MBC
#toilet cubicles #washrooms #hardware #ironmongery #schools #education
