Stepnell Hits Milestone on Three Schools

Stepnell has made significant progress with three of its education building projects in the South of England: Gordons’s School, Canford School and The Woodroffe School.

These projects all include development of brand new facilities for both students and staff. The projects have recently reached substantial construction milestones, and are an excellent contribution to Stepnell’s growing portfolio of educational clients.

Throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, Stepnell remained on-site at Canford School in Wimborne, Dorset. Stepnell is now gearing up the next phase of its new 56-bed boarding house. This £3.9 million development also includes a garage and external works including paving, asphalt, fencing and top soiling. The Canford School is due for completion in June 2021.

Rob Speirs, Regional Director at Stepnell said: “Despite this project commencing on the first day of national lockdown back in March, we were able to maintain our build schedule and complete site work through the implementation of stringent health and safety precautions that – we believe – have been central to our recent successes.”

Stepnell has also demonstrated its success in the educational sector with its latest project with The Woodroffe School, won through Dorset Council’s Smaller Capital Works Framework, that is due to start on site in January 2021. The £2 million development will include a new, two-storey teaching block with classrooms and a group learning space, library resource centre and additional office space to help expand the school’s academic offering.

Landscape work will also be undertaken to include the creation of new footpaths in the surrounding areas, providing full accessible circulation to the ground floor and accompanying lifts for disabled users.

The year-long scheme will pose a number of challenges, including the navigation of a live site and logistical difficulties – with the stand-alone new build cut into a hillside to accommodate the elevated terrain.

Mr Speirs said: “We will continue to remain on site throughout this next stage of lockdown as long as it is safe to do so. We are committed to delivering our projects on-budget and on time, but the well-being of our employees is of paramount importance. We will carry on implementing these health and safety precautions with full vigour while monitoring any changes in the government guidelines to make sure we are adhering to the rules set in place.”

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