13 Schools Surveyed for Hertfordshire County Council

Full measured surveys were carried out for 13 schools in Hertfordshire within the month of March 2013, working to a strict timescale to support the county’s investment in the Primary School Expansion Programme. CAD plans produced by Terrain Surveys will be used as a basis for design and construction of school extensions to accommodate 204 children by September 2014.

Hertfordshire County Council has since announced that 10 of the schools are to go ahead, subject to final planning decisions in June and July.

In a recent press announcement Justin Donovan, Director of Education and Early Intervention, said: “Like many other local authorities, Hertfordshire is in a challenging position with a significant rise in the number of children registered with GPs who will require primary school places within the next few years. The proposed 2014 programme will enable us to provide the right number of places in the right location while making sure that the expansions are affordable and maintain the quality of our schools."

Birth rates in the county have exceeded previous forecasts, as highlighted in the council’s ‘Meeting the rising demand for school places’ report, which identified the need for extra school places in 2009, following a period of falling demand between 2000 and 2007. The latest update to this report estimates that the additional need for school places is likely to be even higher than originally reported.

To ensure this pressing demand is satisfied with new schools built on time and cost-effectively, Hertfordshire uses the SMARTE East framework, which encourages collaborative working and sharing of best practice between projects in Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Terrain Surveys were selected through Hertfordshire’s Property, Estates & Specialist Consultancy (PESC) framework, having extensive experience of rapid turnaround of projects in schools throughout the UK.