Mrs Abila Pointing MBE DL, the High Sheriff of Merseyside, officially opened a multi-million pound redevelopment at Merchant Taylors’ Primary School, Stanfield. The two year, two-phase project undertaken by Eric Wright Construction, was completed in December and is the second major build project at Merchant Taylors’ Schools, Liverpool in the last 5 years. It is part of an overall 10 year development strategy, the next stage of which is already being planned.
Guests, including former members of staff, were invited to a special ceremony to mark the official opening of the impressive new build which is now fully operational since the beginning of the new school term in January. Mrs Pointing unveiled a plaque and talked about the value of a good education. She then met representatives of the school council who took her, and other guests, on a tour of the new facilities.
The multi-phase construction programme, the launch of which was marked by an official steel signing ceremony in 2013 by Liverpool Captain Steven Gerrard, is delivering pioneering education facilities for its 360 students, with a whole suite of purpose-built classrooms and specialist teaching rooms, a new dining hall, kitchen, library and fully-equipped medical rooms as well as additional office space and an impressive new glass fronted reception area.
Designed by architects Saunders Bell, the project also included partial demolition of the school’s former prefabricated and somewhat tired buildings. A new horizontal extension links the new facilities to the school’s remaining buildings some of which have also been refurbished.
Merchant Taylors’ Primary School, Stanfield has remained fully operational during the build phase and all efforts were made by the construction team to make sure there was no disruption to the school day. In fact the team at Eric Wright, led by enthusiastic Project Manager Kevin Burgoyne, involved pupils throughout the whole project by incorporating viewing windows into the building area and introducing aspects such as health & safety and engineering talks into the curriculum, as well as hosting live demonstrations on concrete production. Each pupil signed their name on a numbered brick, which was then used during the construction phase. The infants were also given their own yellow hard hat as a keepsake.
John Wilson, managing director of Eric Wright Construction, said: “Merchant Taylors’ Schools have a rich history spanning nearly 400 years for providing the best education for life and these state-of-the-art facilities will enhance learning opportunities for generations to come.
“The school was committed and engaging throughout the entire project, with the children’s interest in the extensive project enabling them to incorporate the build process as a learning tool. It has probably been one of our most enjoyable projects to work on.”
Miss Julie Yardley, Head of Merchant Taylors’ Primary School, Stanfield added “I am delighted with this superb new build. Whilst the quality of our teaching at the School has always remained at an exceptionally high level, over the last few years the facilities were becoming somewhat tired and expensive to maintain. The much needed redevelopment incorporates a new large hall and kitchens, several classrooms, resource rooms, practice rooms and a dedicated library as well as a fully equipped medical room and other bespoke rooms for specialist teaching of IT, art, music and drama. Our Reception pupils are now fully settled into their purpose built early years’ classrooms and outdoor undercover play areas. The staff, pupils and parents are absolutely thrilled with the new facilities. I would like to thank the builders Eric Wright for their expert handling of such a major redevelopment, most of which took place whilst the school was fully operational. We now feel they are very much part of the Merchants’ family.”
