Year 6 have now moved in to these new classrooms known as The Hub We have now recorded a video for you to see the 4 new class rooms.

Credits:

Camera Man=Josh C

Host: Jamie and Robert

With thanks to:

Exminster primary school

Digital leaders 

How are we doing?

The roof to the building is all but complete with the guttering commencing the week of the 24th March.  Windows have been installed making the building water tight, this means the mechanical and electrical works and internal finishing can commence.  The external render is underway and due to be painted.

Current works:underfloor heating pipes have been laid which enables the floor screeding to commence.  Second fix mechanical and electrical works including containment and chasing and cabling has started.  Plasterboarding is starting internally.

This week, Dave, our new site manager, took an assembly about some of the different trades involved in putting up our new building.  7 children dressed up in safety gear to represent each trade and we talked about what each trade did and the tools they may use.

1.  Groundworkers - the groundworkers were involved in preparing the site for the building.  This involved the demolition of the huts, clearing the ground and digging the foundations.  We do not currently have any groundworkers on site but they will be coming back towards the end of the build.

2.  Bricklayers - the bricklayers did all the block work in the foundations and have been very busy building all the walls, both internally and externally.  They have just about finished on site.

3.  Roofers - the roofers have been putting up the timber trusses and aluminium sheets.  The building will soon be waterproof ready for the internal works to start.

4.  Electricians - they will put in all the wiring into the building so that we can have the electricity we need to power the lights and all our electrical equipment.

5.  Plumbers - they will be working alongside the electricians to put in the pipe work and installations for the toilet block, the sinks in every room and the underfloor heating system.  They arrived on site this week for the first time.

6.  Painters - they will be arriving in the final stages of the project to decorate the classrooms, toilet block and meeting room.

7.  Carpet Fitters - this is the final job in preparation for moving in to the building and they will arrive on site towards the end of May.

Year 6 will be moving into the building in June and then the site will take about 3 weeks to 'decamp'.  The temporary hut will be craned out, the outdoor classroom put back, the carpark rebuilt, the landscape reseeded and planted.  The new date for completion is the 27th June 2014 (3 weeks behind schedule).  The new building will consist of 4 classrooms (in September 2014 this will be for Years 5 and 6 so the current Years 4 and 5), a colourful toilet block and a meeting room.

The trusses have been craned into place and timber work is estimated to be completed by the end of next week.  The brick layers are returning on Monday to continue with their work.  The building is really taking shape now.  It will not be connected to our main building but we will be able to use the new entrance that leads directly into the hall to go from one building to the other.  In September, it will be our Year 5 and 6 children that will be using the building.  The new space will also have a toilet block plus one meeting room and one office.

Rain, rain go away.......We had a dry Wednesday but apart from that work has been slow this week due to the wet weather.  All the trusses have been delivered and are ready to go up.  The crane had been scheduled for Monday but because of the forecast 25mph winds, it has been delayed until Tuesday (only 14mph forecast).  The ground workers managed to do a few extra hours over last weekend to try to make up time but rain stopped them doing any more.  The scaffolding is all up now.  Fingers crossed for dry weather next week.

The roof trusses are arriving!  They will be delivered on Friday 24th January.  This will involve two lorry deliveries, each loaded with the trusses.  The trusses are rather wide and overhang the lorries by 9ft so it will be a tight squeeze coming getting on to site.  One lorry will be arriving at 9.30am and the other about one and a half hours later.  A crane will be coming to site next week to put these up.  The external walls are ongoing and are slightly behind schedule due to the wet weather.  The internal walls have commenced and we can now start to see the classrooms taking shape. 

Once the truss works are complete, the roof coverings can start, followed by the external doors and windows making the building water tight.

This week the builders were held up by the wet weather. Monday’s torrential down pours meant work had to stop. The block and brick work is getting higher and higher day by day. The steel wind posts were fitted this week, marking out the doorways. Scaffolding is going up around the outside of the building as it develops. In the next 2 weeks we will have a 50 tonne crane arriving to put up the trusses, these weigh up to 177kg and the longest is 9m long.

Work started back on site on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd January 2014.  Go and have a look at the building developing - you can go to the perimeter fencing and up by the temporary huts to get a really good view of the site.  It is beginning to look like a building now!  The ground workers are completing their work this week by taking out the last piles of soil and clearing the area.  Block work and brick work is the main development over the next period of time.  By the end of next week, the brick work may be up to window height.  The internal walls will be started in the next couple of weeks.  Gary is currently estimating that we are a week behind schedule.  This is the time of year when the weather can delay the works - for the brick and block work it has to be 1 degree and rising. We are having a lot of deliveries at the moment, bringing in the concrete blocks and bricks.  Keep your eye on how high the external walls are growing over the next couple of weeks!

This week we have placed our time capsule on the spot that will be the corridor of the new building.  This week, it will be covered with the flooring.  Children's names were drawn out of a hat and one person from each class went onto site.  We all had to be kitted out with a hard hat and a high visibility vest for safety reasons.  Gary, the site manager, took us onto site, we showed him the contents of the time capsule then we were photographed for the Dawlish Gazette.

Taylor and Ben have been on 'Building Watch' today.  Here's their update:

This week the concrete blocks have started to pile up.  These are forming the strong foundations for our new building. 

You may have noticed the pile of soil growing and growing into a small mountain this week.  This has now been cleared and the machinerry has had a very busy week diging out the foundations and making trenches.  It has probably been one of the busiest weeks so far with lorry deliveries and activity on site.  Follow the link below to see the winners of our poster competition:

poster safety compeition winners

What huts?  We can't see any huts, apart from the temporary temporary ones that our Year 6s are in (when they haven't been evacuated to the Victory Hall)!  This week there is no evidence of any Devon Ladies.  The ground is being prepared for the foundations which are starting next week.  From next week until Christmas, there will be lots of deliveries arriving.  Lorries carrying 16 tonnes a time will be bringing in the concrete for the foundations.  All classes are busy preparing for the burial of our time capsule to show what life in 2013 is like.  Sarah Stapleton remembers when she was attending Exminster that a time capsule was buried at the edge of the staff car park.  We're waiting to see if we discover that one from over 20 years ago.

It has been the most exciting week of development so far.  The 360 Excavator arrived with the jaw of destruction!  It took 2 days to demolish the Devon Ladies.  The site looks so different already.  The adventure playground has now gone and this space has been levelled.  Unfortunately, the adventure playground will not be replaced as the new build will be in this area.  The school and School Association are looking at how to develop a new adventure area and raise the money for it though.  All those developments in just one week - we are looking forward to what next week brings!

 Week 4 of our 40 week development.

This week started with the transferral of furniture into Year 6's new home.  Gary and his team worked until 8pm on the Friday night of half term and again on Saturday to make sure the new huts were ready to move in to.

The site has been set up to serve the builders with a canteen, toilets and a drying room.  Drawings have been updated of the site and the developments to ensure everybody on site is clear of all the demolition and developments.

The old Devon Ladies have been prepared for demolition.  The most exciting part will come next week.  On Monday we are expecting a '360 excavator' with a jaw to break down the huts – a definite photo opportunity!

The arrival of the crane!  Thank you to Mrs. Witcomb for the photos.

This week we were not in school but the crane was!  The crane lifted in our temporary temporary home for our Year 6s.  It was a very tight squeeze but with careful judgement and help from the local residents by moving their cars, the crane made it.  It was touch and go as to whether it would be able to happen on Tuesday as any winds over 18mph and it is too dangerous.  Gary and his team carefully navigated it in then spent the rest of the week painting, carpeting and setting it up ready for Year 6.

This week the school has been fenced off as the builders have moved in to start demolishing the huts in preparation for the four new classrooms. We are planning to update the 'build blog' on a weekly basis so please keep coming back to see the progress.