Washington School, Sunderland

Our works comprised the groundworks, ground floor slab and deep drainage works to Washington School as part of the Sunderland Building Schools for the Future programme.

The building utilised a passive ventilation system which entailed the construction of 1050mm diameter air intake pipes beneath the floor slab linking the internal ventilation pits and the outside of the building.

The works included foul, surface and rainwater drainage with rainwater harvesting tank and bypass separators. The surface water drainage works increased significantly in scope and quantity due to a client change to reroute and extend the 525mm diameter SW outfall to another connection. This entailed trench depths of over 4m deep and encountered poor ground conditions and running sand. These difficulties were successfully managed and overcome to the employer’s satisfaction.