DUNFERMLINE-based Deanestor has completed a £3 million furniture and fit-out contract at the new £55 million Inverurie Community Campus.
The contract was Deanestor’s third school fit-out project for principal contractors, Robertson Construction, and represents the firm’s largest ever deal in the construction education buildings sector.
The project for Aberdeenshire Council was delivered by hub North Scotland, with the facility set to accommodate up to 1,600 primary and secondary school pupils.
Designed by Halliday Fraser Munro, the campus will also be home to St Andrews School for children with special educational needs.
Deanestor fitted out 360 rooms across the campus, including science, food and design technology departments, specialist SEN facilities, general teaching spaces, sports and changing areas, reception, library and offices. The company said the layouts reflect the ‘latest thinking in curriculum delivery’ with bright colours throughout and an interior design scheme that links all internal learning spaces.
Bespoke fixed furniture manufactured by Deanestor includes booth seating for the learning plazas, break-out spaces, café and social dining; 1,950 metres of shelving, 670 metres of laminate and laboratory worktops, 400 base and wall storage units, bag stores, 84 primary and secondary teaching walls, and more than 500 items of metalwork. 60 serviced units with power, data or water supplies were designed for the laboratories.
Yunming Thomson, design director at Halliday Fraser Munro, said, “We have had very positive feedback about the furniture. It was a clear client requirement to have the breakout areas and learning plazas well populated with a choice of seating. With Deanestor’s input, we have achieved a good variety of seating and storage options and in vibrant colours that work very well visually. We used a palette of greys for the fixed furniture and highlighted the colours for each learning zone with the flooring, seating and soft furnishings.
“Deanestor did an excellent job of interpreting the client needs. The project has definitely exceeded our expectations and is an outstanding education facility.”
Ramsay McDonald, MD of Deanestor Scotland, added, “We were delighted to work on such an exciting and much-needed community scheme. The scale and complexity of the campus and the range of facilities we fitted out demonstrates our capabilities and expertise in bespoke furniture manufacture, procurement and project management. Our designers worked closely with the design and construction team to implement the contemporary theme for the multi-purpose spaces. The result is a really inspirational and innovative environment for learning and teaching.
“To help the contractor and client address the challenges of the Covid lockdown, all the furniture was manufactured and stored by Deanestor ready for delivery and fitout when the site re-opened. This helped to minimise the impact of the current pandemic on the project completion.”
Deanestor supplied and installed around 6,000 other items for the project including tables and chairs, retractable seating for a performance studio, 375 locker units, soft seating, changing facilities, mirrors, teaching aids, sinks and around 100 white goods.
Inverurie Campus provides a range of amenities for the community, including a youth café, community centre, gymnastics club, six-lane swimming pool, hydrotherapy pool, and other sports facilities.
