Background

The Ellesmere Port Academy project involved the relocation of two existing school sites into a new, purpose built gateway academy, delivered as part of a £20 million investment in education infrastructure in Cheshire.

The new facility accommodates 1,350 pupils and includes extensive amenities such as sports pitches, a 500 seat theatre, specialist science facilities, allotments and fully integrated special educational needs provision. The building was designed across three floors, with external terraces and shared social spaces to maximise usable learning areas.

The challenge

The project required an efficient, robust drainage solution that could:

  • Support a large, multi storey educational facility
  • Be installed quickly to maintain programme momentum
  • Reduce on site waste, vehicle movements and wet trades
  • Improve health and safety during construction
  • Deliver long term durability and performance

Given the constraints of a live construction environment and sustainability objectives, a traditional in situ manhole solution was not ideal.

The solution

G A Prydden, working on behalf of Kier North West, specified the Marshalls Sealed (Perfect) Manhole system to provide a fully watertight, precast access solution.

The sealed manhole system:

  • Eliminates the need for in situ concrete bases, benching and surrounds
  • Reduces vehicle movements and site waste
  • Accelerates installation compared to traditional construction
  • Is designed for a minimum 120 year service life

Compared with conventional construction methods, the system delivers up to 40% savings in greenhouse gas emissions and significantly reduces manual handling and wet trades on site.

The outcome

The use of sealed manholes contributed to a faster, safer and more sustainable construction process for the academy’s drainage infrastructure.

  • Improved installation speed and programme certainty
  • Reduced health and safety risks associated with in situ concrete works
  • Lower environmental impact through reduced material use and transport
  • Long term, watertight access solution suited to a civic education asset

Alan Prydden, Managing Director at G A Prydden, commented:

“Now we have had working practice of the perfect manhole system, we would like to use them extensively due to the speed and ease that the overall solution provides.”

Alan Young, Site Manager at Kier North West, added:

“The perfect manhole is a fantastic innovation which resulted in speed of construction and minimised health and safety issues on site.”