Mayor Ferguson praises Skanska's sustainable school
Skanska’s conversion of a disused office building into a new school bristling with green features has been opened by Mayor George Ferguson.
Skanska spent nine months transforming Imperial Tobacco’s former offices into a new site for the school, providing 420 new places across 3,000 sqm. of space.
Mayor Ferguson said:
“This new Ashton Gate site is a great example of how an old industrial building can be converted for a totally new purpose.”
The building has several ‘green’ features, including an energy-efficient LED lighting system with movement sensors, in order to minimise waste.
“This new Ashton Gate site is a great example of how an old industrial building can be converted for a totally new purpose.”
More than 100 energy-intensive air conditioning units were removed from the building and replaced with a natural ventilation system, and solar panels were installed which will generate electricity for the school.
John Brennan, Bristol’s Project Director at Skanska, added:
“This is a highly impressive project which brings new life to this building while delivering much-needed school places to this area of Bristol.”
This is the latest example of Skanska re-imagining existing buildings to avoid the need for greenfield construction.
The former Redland Police Station was converted into a new site for St John’s Primary, while at Hannah More Primary in St. Philips Skanska placed seven new classrooms on the roof to save the school’s playing fields.
Six further schools will be completed by September, creating more than 3,000 new school places across the city and helping Bristol keep up with rising demand.
Skanska, in partnership with Bristol City Council and Bristol LEP, has built or refurbished more than 40 schools in the last ten years. 7,000+ new primary places have been delivered and over 13,600 secondary school children now have an improved learning environment.
Read more about Skanska’s work in Bristol’s schools.
