Severn Valley Railway 2019

This year we have been working on exciting projects with the Severn Valley Railway on refurbishments and construction works – keep your eyes open as pictures are coming soon! We recently received this email from a member of the public that had seen our refurbishment of the toilet facilities at Kidderminster SVR Station:

“I called at Kidderminster this week and ventured into the station toilet.
What a transformation.  As you know, I and Malcolm are experts when it
comes to lavatories.  They are a good way of assessing how an organisation
works, or does not work!  At last we and our visitors have a toilet that
does not smell and has excellent sinks, taps, walls and polished pipes.
Great work and thank you if you were behind it.”

We were delighted and proud to receive such glowing feedback for our work and look forward to future projects working with Severn Valley Railway.

Stylish Glass Toilets – Frankley CLC

Frankley Community High School, now known as Balaam Wood school, hosted the city learning Centre that taught pupils about engineering. They wanted toilets that were in keeping with the design of the learning centre which was very high tech and this needed to be reflected in design work. We rose to this challenge using glass panelling, cubicles and ultra modern features.

The walls were battened out and flash gaps and skirtings laminated in brushed aluminium and lighting installed behind the glass panels for the illumination.  Creative sinks were designed and fabricated in Ireland to come out of the wall with the water spout above on a sensor which distributed water onto the sink, with the water seeming to disappear by flowing back into the wall behind the sink. Having the concealed option gave it a real wow feature for the client,  and created an interesting element for the pupils also. The toilet cubicles were glass with the ironmongery (supplied by ALM).  The glass was very heavy and ALM ironmongery provided the best structural solution at that time. The toilet pans were all wall hung using special custom stands bolted to the floor behind the panels with concealed systems and large push plates for the flush. The floor was installed in a black non-slip porcelain tile to add a sharp design contrast to the light glass panels. The job took 4 weeks to complete and many hours of design work prior to the event but the highly professional finish and the highly satisfied customers were a testament to the work completed.

Castle Library – Orchards Primary

The Orchards Primary Academy wanted to utilise the area off the corridor which had bookcases segregating the area, so Spencer Monaco Ltd was asked to design and build a castle to house the library. It had to be designed so pupils could be seen by the teacher from anywhere within the area, and it had to be as strong and as authentic as possible. We came up with a simple yet effective design that gave a realistic feel to an imaginative and stimulating space when completed including effective castle turrets and a dragon. The construction was made from a combination of  MDF and timber, and were mindful in our design making it possible that it could be easily transported and installed following manufacture. Prior to being installed on site we primed and undercoated all panels and the final artwork was done on site by our artist. Once completed the pupils loved the dragon and thought they were at Camelot.

Adderley Primary School

Spencer Monaco Ltd has completed significant construction and custom design work for Adderley primary school over a number of years. This work has included the design, construction and refurbishment of school toilets, new school buildings, classrooms and childrens outdoor play spaces -pictures below and more available upon request. As a major project example that we completed for them , we were asked by the head teacher and the governing body to design and build a new school hall of approximately 144 sqm with the provision to future proof the build by designing the building to allow the installation of 2 further classrooms. Ourselves and  Nick Carrol Architects and his team were tasked with designing a building that was not only cost efficient to build based on best value but also taking into account the constraints of the build. This was not without its challenges as there was no access so the front and rear walls of the school kitchen were removed. This still only left a tunnel of only 3 metres wide by 2.3 metres high to get everything including the steelwork through. A spider crane was hired to offload the vehicles with the steel frame and then repositioned to the centre of the foundations so the framework could be erected from the inside out as there was no other way to carry out this function. The steel frame was manufactured in the Midlands by Traditional Structures Ltd, and the cladding was supplied by Midport Construction, the electrical work was carried out by David Banks Electrical Contractors. All  of the other works were carried out by Spencer Monaco and thee building was fitted out to a very high specification by ourselves including: led skylight panels inset to suspended ceilings all with sensors, Air conditioning units to both classrooms and  Miliken carpet tiles in the IT Suite. We also had the school hall fitted with Karndean flooring, with matching sliding partition doors. In addition the first-floor toilet was fitted out with Spencer Monaco IPS Panneling and a Corian top vanity unit. The projects took approximately 6 months from July when the steel finally arrived to January 2015 when it was finally handed over.

Food Technology Room – Lordswood Girls School

Lordswood Girls School had a very outdated food technology room and decided that it was also too small and wanted to relocate it to another classroom on the other side of the corridor with a redesign and refurbishment which we provided.

They wanted something bright, light and airy but also durable and fit for purpose. We came up with a creative, space-effective and dynamic design for the school food tech room that accommodated the number of pupils. We fabricated the worktops from LG HIMACS Solid surface with integrated bowls and a suitable mixer tap so the water could be temperature controlled and pre-mixed for health and safety. An Armstrong suspended ceiling grid was installed with lighting and a Polysafe standard safety flooring for a non-slip surface. Hotpoint ovens with integrated ceramic hobs were the preferred choice for the school as control was via knobs and not touch so it was easier to use for the pupils. Standalone dishwashers, washing machines and larder fridges were supplied but as per the design they not built in so they could be relocated freely at any time.

Food Technology Room – Kingsweston School Bristol

Spencer Monaco ltd were contracted to design and cost a new food tech room based on a complex brief.

Due to the range of complex needs of their pupils, their class bases are quite small, typically 6 to 8 pupils. The room designated was approximately 46 msq and they needed a completely new facility. Staff have been consulted as to the pros and cons of our existing provision:-

The current space was approximately 53 msq, and housed three standard electric hobs and integrated ovens, laid out as two side-by-side U shaped configurations, plus one stand-alone fully adjustable and accessible sink, hob and oven. There was a cluster space for 4nr high table. Given the requirements and the tight deadline as school holidays were fast approaching we headed straight to Bristol on the monday morning to have a look and carry out a measurement of the area to see what design we could put together. Our first hurdle to overcome was the provision of services to the room, a there was none. The room literally was a classroom so new services had to be run from the boiler house and new electrical fuse board had to be installed in the plant room as the current board was full with no extra capacity. The next hurdle was where the waste water was going from the sinks and appliances like the washing machine and dishwasher. The drains outside are for surface water only but fortunately there used to be a sink in a classroom 10metres further down that we traced to foul so based on this we were able to cleverly design the room appropriately without sustaining significant extra plumbing costs. A 3d cad drawing was done to give the overall layout incorporating what the school had as a wishlist.

The school caters for pupils with learning difficulties so there are certain requirements such as specific colours, so blue doors were chosen with grey cabinets and grey worktops and green as a feature wall. The suspended ceiling was a mix of eggcrate and normal tiles to allow light through from the roof lights but around the perimeter above the eggcrate had to be painted dark grey. The cookers had to be Neff as they are the only company who manufacture slide and hide doors and the ceramic hobs where made by whirlpool as they produce a ceramic hob with knobs as all the rest have touch control.

Above the ceiling ducting was installed with a fan motor feeding 3 ventilation points for movement of air within the room and had to be extracted externally with attention being paid to the noise factor as it needed to be kept relatively quiet. lighting was via LED Skytiles to give a nice even light coverage and for low consumption. All the electrics were designed and installed by David Banks Electrical, West Midlands.

The provision had to be made for wheelchair access within the room so a specially designed cooker unit was made with a drawer below and two adjustable tables with cooker and a hob each side to allow a pupil full inclusion to cook and washup with the other pupils. The overall project from start to finish took 4 weeks not including the manufacture of the units.

This was a complex project but it was a thoroughly enjoyed challenge that ended with a fantastic, accessible and fully functional room suitable for the needs of the pupils and the school. We received excellent feedback and are proud to have supported.

Hopley’s Family Camping Site

We were asked to supply and install Hopley’s camping site’s new shower block with new cubicles. Our brief was to make them stand up to significant wear and tear that a heavily used campsite would experience but also ensure they would last given the moisture they will experience with the showers that were continually i use by campers who had enjoyed the great outdoors.  Hopleys Family Camping site has an excellent reputation for quality and facilities and the new shower block was to be no exception. we manufactured and supplied new cubicles in compact laminate with stainless steel ironmongery as this will last longer than the usual satin anodised aluminium, the indicator bolts were supplied with levers rather than knobs to allow easy handling for children and people with wet hands. The vanity units we manufactured solid surface tops with inset basins and the client installed both hot and cold taps as this is more suited to the camping environment rather than mixer taps. The shower block was to be open for may bank holiday and we had a very short lead time so our fitters pulled out all the stops to ensure this happened so there was plenty of happy campers.