Property, construction and infrastructure consultancy Pick Everard has completed two school expansion projects in Essex.

The schemes, at secondary schools in Brightlingsea and Clacton-on-Sea, have created buildings designed to tackle climate change while providing space for hundreds of extra pupils to learn and exercise.

These schools feed into the Essex County Council’s modular innovation drive to create more than 750 much-needed new school places in the region. 

The net zero new-builds form part of a decarbonisation plan in the educational capital programme of work and meets the Department for Education’s fresh air guidelines, ensuring the new schools are compliant with Covid-related health and safety requirements.

Pick Everard has delivered architecture, civil, structural and MEP engineering, and principal design services across the schools.

Jon Ward, architect at Pick Everard, said: “It’s great to see the expansion of another two schools in Essex come to fruition and our relationship with Essex County Council proving successful. Our experience and expertise in both education schemes and sustainability is particularly strong, positioning us perfectly to deliver the high-quality, hybrid designs required by the council, which were implemented to help both pupils and staff reach their full potential.”

At Colne Community School and College in Brightlingsea, Pick Everard designed a new teaching block fully equipped with food technology rooms, resistant material workshops, standard classrooms, ancillary stores, plant room and WCs. 

It will use power generated on site to minimise solar heat gain and includes a range of energy efficient features, including high standards of air tightness. The daylight design provides a glare-free visual environment, further maximising energy efficiency.

At Clacton County High School, Pick Everard has created an energy conscious design that generates power on-site through the provision of photovoltaic panels on the roof and an energy efficient heating system, via air source heat pumps.

The completed project provides a new four-court sports hall with associated stores and a link to existing changing pavilion, six standard classrooms as well as a staff work room.

Keith Prendergast, national director at Pick Everard, added: “We are delighted that work at Colne Community School and College, and Clacton County High School has completed, marking another positive step in the move to increase pupil places in the Essex region. The new classrooms at both schools will improve the facilities for pupils and ensure the schools deliver a high-quality education with no environmental impact in the process.”

Preceding these two secondary schools, Sweyne Park School in Raleigh recently became the first in the county to benefit from a net-zero carbon, modular building in a £2.2m scheme, meaning that the scheme initiated by Essex County Council to create 750 school places in the region has now completed.