Terrapin’s offsite building expertise has won top marks from a comprehensive school in Worcestershire. Terrapin’s Unitrex ‘flat pack’ building system has provided a speedy solution to an urgent need for additional learning space at Hagley Catholic High School. Using factory-fabricated Unitrex panelised units, quickly assembled on site, Terrapin was able to achieve rapid completion of a new 70m² single-storey classroom for the school’s IT department, taking just five weeks for on-site works.

Hagley Catholic High School is a mixed comprehensive school with over 1,000 pupils aged 11 to 18. The Terrapin building provides a dedicated teaching facility for new IT diploma courses. Karl Wilcox, the school’s Business Manager, says that although a number of offsite building suppliers were considered during the procurement process, Terrapin offered the best balance of flexibility of design, speed of delivery and cost effectiveness that the school was looking for. He comments: “In fact, this first building has been such a success that we’ve already placed an order with Terrapin for a three-classroom block to accommodate our changing curriculum needs.”

The school’s recently completed Terrapin building has a 22.5 degree pitched roof and includes a lobby, store and a 54m2 classroom with an energy efficient air conditioning system for heating and cooling the area as required. A ramped approach and low threshold entrance door provides for disabled access in accordance with Part M of the Building Regulations. The building structure is designed to conform to BS6399 Part 2 1997 relating to wind loading, and insulation to walls, floors and roof complies with heat loss requirements under Part L of the Building Regulations.

Terrapin was also able to satisfy the school’s aesthetic specification for the new addition to its campus. The attractive cedar clad façade is combined with a natural stone aggregate finish perimeter skirt and white powder-coated aluminium window frames to complement the style of existing school buildings. The interior fit-out includes barrier matting in the entrance lobby, carpet tiles in the classroom and store, and vertical window blinds.

Unitrex ‘flat pack’ panelised units are just one of the fast and flexible offsite building solutions offered by Terrapin. Using standardised system components and quality assured factory fabrication, Unitrex is ideal for temporary or permanent low-rise building projects – such as offices, nurseries and schools, clubhouses, health clinics and surgeries. Terrapin also offers fully factory-assembled and fitted volumetric modules, or flat pack/volumetric hybrid solutions to suit specific design and logistics requirements.