Fairfield Farm College

About

Fairfield Farm College caters for students with learning difficulties, with a curriculum that provides rich practical content based on horticulture and farming activities.  The school is expanding, and an extension was required to provide teaching, administration and out-reach activities.

The solution was to adapt and refurbish existing accommodation and to augment with new build where necessary.  We played our part by adapting existing steel trusses to work with the new plan and designing a new cut timber roof supported on feature trusses to new build elements.  Foundation and load bearing masonry were traditional and used to provide stability to the timber columns supporting the roof.

We were also able to contribute to the educational value of the scheme by designing a SUDS system incorporating swales feeding into a new pond  doubling as a storage facility in times of heavy rainfall.  The school is located in Dilton Marsh which as the name suggests has significant surface water management issues, and the site had to be re-profiled to achieve the necessary falls to car parks and surface water conduits.

We have recently extended our involvement developing drainage strategies in support of the school’s future plans for the site.

Credits

Architect: Hetreed Ross

Contractor: Ken Biggs

QS: KJA

Client: Fairfield Farm College