Schools work with contractor touches £50million for Durham architect

The award-winning, multi-disciplinary architect, Howarth Litchfield, has just begun work on another schools project with Tier 1 contractor, Tilbury Douglas, which brings the value of the projects worked on together over the last few years to almost £50m.

The latest schools involved are on the Department for Education’s (DfE's) ‘Medium Band Framework’ for projects up to £15m in value. Tilbury Douglas was appointed to the framework along with several other main contractors.

CGI of the aerial view of the school.

In most cases, Howarth Litchfield’s role is wide ranging with responsibility for gaining planning consent after which, the firm's technical advisers work to support the DfE to develop the brief. Thereafter, Howarth Litchfield's role spans that of lead designer; architect and interior designer; responsibility for Building Information Modelling (BIM) coordination as well as extensive collaboration with the other consultants; and stakeholder engagement with the school, Tilbury Douglas and the DfE.

Whilst Howarth Litchfield, enjoys established relationships with several contractors across a wide range of projects, its established track record with Tilbury Douglas has proved particularly effective with a raft of successfully delivered projects chalked up.

Recently, the £8m Sugar Hill Primary School in Newton Aycliffe was successfully completed while Howarth Litchfield is currently on site at the £15m Skelton Primary School at Skelton by the Sea, ten miles east of Middlesbrough. Here, the team is appointed from RIBA Stage 0 through to completion.

Commenting on the project, Howarth Litchfield Director, Keith Handy, explains: "

"The project involves the demolition of an existing school and construction of a new two form plus primary school.

"Ever conscious of the need to work efficiently and within budget, we have also succeeded in eliminating the need for temporary accommodation and its associated costs, during the build phase. Not only has this saved us money, it means there is only one transition for the staff and pupils, effectively minimising any educational impact."

The most recent schools are being built to Specification 21+, which requires contractors to deliver a school that is Net Zero Carbon in operation, which means that the amount of carbon emissions associated with the school’s annual operational energy is zero negative.

Ray Nugent, Regional Design Manager at Tilbury Douglas, added:

“Following Howarth Litchfield’s early involvement with Tilbury Douglas back in 2021 on the Mo Mowlam Academy, this has paved the way for us to confidently involve the firm in a variety of additional projects.

“Their team is well versed in designing schools with areas of high specialisation, so this flexibility enables us to work efficiently on each project."

Howarth Litchfield is currently looking at other education opportunities as part of the next wave of DfE projects and with other public sector clients and academy trusts up and down the country.