In July 2011 work began on the £15 million project that will transform Notting Hill and Ealing High School.
The old assembly hall and gym have been demolished and will soon be replaced with superb new buildings. These will be stylish and full of light, link beautifully with our existing buildings and will transform the school. They will give us a linked series of practical, flexible and well-designed spaces. They will open up opportunities in sport, drama and public speaking, accommodate whole-school gatherings and events and benefit each of the girls who spend so many hours here.
Throughout the project we will post details of progress here and you will also be able to read more in our Newsletters.
A new multi-function hall for assemblies, whole-school gatherings, plays and events A four-court sports hall A dance studio A 100-seat theatre
(Images courtesy of Ellis Williams Architects)Click on an image to enlarge and view
Along with a new link from the front entrance of the school through the current library and into the science block, stairways and walkways in existing buildings are being rethought. The library space will be refurbished. The garden, always the green heart of NHEHS, will remain. It will be re-landscaped and replanted to provide a focal point for the new and existing buildings continuing to be central to promoting the schools’ warm, friendly atmosphere as girls come and go throughout the day.
Our contractors Interserve took possession of the site in early July. Over the summer holidays services were diverted and the old hall and gym were demolished. In September and October the site was cleared and levelled and in November work began on on piling. This involves digging holes deep into the ground which are then filled with steel and concrete to form the foundations for the new structure. In late December and over the Christmas period there was more work on the foundations and work was undertaken to underpin some of the school buildings adjacent to the site.
You can follow the progress of the build by downloading our contractor's newsletters
Click on an image to enlarge and view pictures of the site taken during th Autumn Term 20111.
In late September the hoardings that completely enclose the building site were enlivened by murals designed by the girls and created from life-sized silhouettes that they then cut out and transformed into stencils for painting.
Click on an image to enlage and view.
One weekend in early January the newest phase of construction was marked by the arrival on site of a very large crane.
Anchored deep into the ground it has a vertical metal tower approximately 20 metres high on top of which sits the cabin from where the crane is operated. The jib is able to lift a maximum of 16 tons (the weight of a London double-decker bus) and can extend to a distance of 55 metres, traversing the site through 180 degrees. When the jib is vertical (in the ‘parked’ position) the crane is just over 60 metres tall and completely dominates the site.
The crane will be used initially for hauling excavated earth out of the increasingly deep hole in the ground that will soon form the basement and sports hall. As the piling is completed, it will lift into place the reinforced concrete slabs and metal superstructure and that will form the walls, floors and ceilings of the new building.
Eventually, it will lift the component parts for the roof and the dance studio before it is removed from the site by being lifted in sections over the science block.
The 304 piles that form the perimeter of the basement, the 44 tension piles and the walls of the underground courtyard plantroom are finished. The first phase of steps and terracing from the dining room is complete and the structural steelwork trusses that form the roof of the sports hall are going in. The next phase will be the excavation of the basement to create the sports hall.