Tilbury Douglas completes construction of Saddleworth High School

Tilbury Douglas, a leading UK building, infrastructure, engineering and fitout company, has successfully completed the construction of Saddleworth High School, a new build 1,500 pupil secondary school in Diggle, Oldham.

The completion marks the successful partnership between Tilbury Douglas Construction, the Department for Education and Oldham Council to deliver the pivotal scheme.

The state-of-the-art 10,500m2 facility was constructed over three storeys using cloud based collaborative technology and innovative building methods. The project had significant challenges to overcome, including sloping topography, poor ground conditions, ecological constraints and sensitive local planning issues.

As part of the innovations, an earthmoving cut and fill process used excavated material to raise the level of the sports field and avoid taking soil off site. This prevented 23,000 m3 of material being sent to landfill – saving 2,550 vehicle movements and 80t CO2 emissions – the equivalent of one person travelling to New York 46 times.

In addition to quality learning and social facilities, the school also features a Breathing Buildings Solution to provide natural ventilation – keeping it warm in winter and cool in summer to boost comfort, health, sustainability and reduce energy costs, meeting BREEAM Very Good standard.

The project which has been on site for 83 weeks achieved a Considerate Constructors Scheme Performance Beyond Compliance award, acknowledging the teams respect the community, care for the environment and value for the workforce.

The team’s exemplar approach has also delivered a Social Value Return on Investment over £5.7m. This has been achieved through apprenticeships, educational outreach, supply chain engagement, local employment and volunteering for the Saddleworth Round Table and Dr Kershaw’s Hospice.

Phil Shaw, Divisional Director for the North West at Tilbury Douglas, commented: “The completion marks the successful partnership between Tilbury Douglas Construction, the Department for Education and Oldham Council to deliver this pivotal scheme.  The new school has been designed to accommodate the growing needs of pupils by providing an additional 150 places and it has been tailored to exceed the needs of modern school education provision.”

Mike Anderson, Headteacher at Saddleworth School, said: “We’re all incredibly excited to be moving into our new school. Our new building has been designed with students at its heart with state-of-the-art teaching and specialist spaces, brilliant sporting facilities and fantastic outdoor learning and social areas.”