BCIS featured analysis – nursery extension

The BCIS Online featured project for June 2020, submitted by Perth & Kinross Council, is a £834,791 nursery extension to Oakbank Primary School, in Perth, Tayside.

The single storey 221m² nursery extension, comprising classroom, utility room, quiet room, nappy change and store room, is constructed to match the existing school, completed in 2016. The nursey extension supports the Scottish Government’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) expansion policy, as the existing school did not meet the spatial requirements of this provision.

Funded ELC provision is available to all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds. Currently 600 free hours are provided to each child per year, but this will increase to 1140 hours from August 2020.

The contract was procured under Lot 1 of the Scottish Procurement Alliance framework for Schools and Community Buildings using the JCT Standard Building Contract 2016 edition, based on a contract period of 40 weeks.

The building cost at £2,681/m² (3Q2019), compares with the average of £2,056/m² for 44Nr nursery schools/creche projects on the same basis on the BCIS Online database. The higher than average cost was attributed to the following:

• mechanical and electrical costs being high due to the BB101 Regulation update in 2018, which provides guidance on ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools. It was originally proposed that the extension be naturally ventilated but was subsequently changed to mechanical ventilation, incorporating BMS, ventilation controls and sprinklers;
• preliminaries costs at 46.33% due to highly restricted working space, site access and very tight contractor site compound, with the school remaining operational throughout the works.

Substructure, at £289/m² includes:

• in-situ concrete strip foundations and ground floor slab

Superstructure, at £1,150/m² includes:

• structural steel columns and beams
• Sika warm roofing system with roof lights and sun tubes
• facing brick external skin, insulation, timber stud and OSB inner skin
• aluminum double glazed windows and doors
• timber and metal stud partitions
• laminated solid core timber doors and 2Nr roller shutters

Finishes, at £108/m² include:

• plasterboard, emulsion and Altro Whiterock splash-back wall finishes
• carpet tiles and vinyl sheet floor finishes
• mineral fibre suspended ceilings

Fittings and furnishings, at £32/m² include:

• fix only food preparation fittings

Services, at £1,102/m² include:

• hot and cold water installations
• underfloor heating linked to existing school
• mechanical ventilation heat recovery system (MVHR)
• electric power and light
• sprinklers
• data
• disabled, fire and intruder alarms
• access control system and
• building management system

External and facilitating works, at a cost of £198,934 include site preparation, rubber surfacing, landscaping, fencing, bin storage and drainage.

BCIS would like to thank Perth & Kinross Council for providing the data and all those who have submitted projects to be published online.

BCIS CapX

Cost analyses are available as part of BCIS CapX. It is an industry repository for building project costs analysed elementally. It provides clients, consultants and contractors with secure online access to their project data. The analyses can be prepared from contract documents used in most procurement routes, for example: