Back to school at Stantonbury

It’s not often that you get the chance to return to your old school to improve the facilities there, but that’s exactly what Richard Harrison, SJD’s senior contracts manager, has done recently.

SJD was asked to provide a comprehensive mechanical and electrical installation to refurbish Stantonbury School’s Danstead Building in Milton Keynes for Zeno Construction. 

Built in the 1980s, the building had been derelict for a number of years and wasn’t fit for purpose. The improvement works have brought it up to modern standards, made it compliant and given it a new lease of life for sixth form students to move into.

This has allowed the existing sixth form block to be made available for refurbishment in line with the school’s commitment to continuous improvements to its facilities.

The project involved repurposing and modernizing existing classroom spaces into a high quality administrative and educational hub, featuring a new main entrance, reception, reprographics room, and meeting suites.

Richard was delighted to be part of the transformation and enjoyed his trip down Memory Lane, he said: “It’s been around 33 years since I’ve been here, and it’s been fun to contribute to upgrading the building for the current students.

“I remember the school looking very brown and not very inviting. It was always either too hot or too cold, but today’s students will benefit from our improvements to the heating system and we’ve made it more energy efficient.

“Fortunately, none of my old teachers are still at the school so they couldn’t tell my SJD colleagues what I got up to!”

The team installed and tested three new distribution boards to feed the building’s lighting, power, and mechanical systems.

Working with specialist partners, SJD installed a comprehensive security suite, including a high-definition CCTV system, an access control system serving 11 doors, and an intruder alarm.

A power over ethernet communications system was included with speakers for automated school bells, public address, and emergency notifications.

For fire safety, the team commissioned a Category L1 fire alarm system, the highest standard for life protection, and replaced outdated radiator systems with energy-efficient electrical panel heaters.  New air conditioning was also provided in the high-heat reprographics area.

The system is Part M compliant with a standalone emergency assistance alarm and a hearing loop system at the main reception.

This is SJD’s first project with Zeno Construction. Director Declan McBrearty commented:  “SJD was a key delivery partner on the Stantonbury refurbishment project and consistently demonstrated a professional and collaborative approach throughout.

“Their team delivered a high-quality mechanical and electrical installation, worked proactively with the wider project team, and, importantly, met the demands of the programme. Their commitment and reliability played an important role in the successful completion of the project, and we would be pleased to work with them again.”

Richard concluded: “This project demonstrates SJD’s ability to deliver complex, multi-service installations that create safe, modern, and future-ready learning environments and it was a pleasure to return to my old school to make these improvements.”