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St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School contacted HMF to see if it was possible to install a mezzanine floor within part of the school where the headroom looked promising.

St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School serves the Catholic Christian communities in the Southampton East Pastoral Area. The school was founded to enable the whole community to grow & develop, nurtured by the loving care of Jesus Christ.

Hampshire Mezzanine went & looked at the suggested area for the mezzanine floor which was currently being used as a library area & was historically an outside courtyard prior to being covered over & weathered. HMF came up with various options for a mezzanine floor to be located within the area & presented these options to St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School.

Part of the proposals HMF put forward was for a super thin mezzanine floor designed to maximise space on both the ground floor & new first floor area as the headroom was fairly limited. This set the scene for all the mechanical & electrical fittings that had to be designed to be as compact as possible to ensure headroom clearances were within Building Regulations guidelines.

HMF were awarded the project & were asked to install the mezzanine floor during the summer shutdown.

HMF then carried out detailed steelwork surveys & then produced steelwork layouts & structural calculations which were submitted to Building Control with full general arrangement layouts & associated documents.

Part of the design required HMF to cut out pockets in the existing screed located on the floor & then recess the mezzanine floor column baseplates down to existing main concrete slab below the screed.

HMF started on site in July by protecting all localised floor surfaces to enable materials & plant to be brought through a hall. HMF then cut out the screed in readiness for the mezzanine floor steelwork to arrive. The steelwork was unloaded by a Hiab lorry & carefully manipulated into the area & installed using genie lifts to position the heavy main steelwork & associated mezzanine components. Once the mezzanine floor structure was in place HMF then insulated the screed pockets & re-screeded where the columns were located to give the longest possible drying time before the flooring was fitted at the end of the project.

A new classroom was constructed using 100mm thick partitioning with matching glazed elevations to the other local classrooms & with solid core wood veneer doors.

Ventilation was provided to the classroom using 2 separate heat recovery systems that brought fresh air from outside into the classroom & also removed the existing air within the classroom which was then used to assist in warming the incoming new fresh air. CO2 detectors were installed as part of this system which had to be provided with ductwork with supply & return outlets fitted tight up to the mezzanine floor.

Existing low pressure hot water heaters were removed for the installation of the mezzanine floor & were then reinstalled back afterwards to heat the classroom.

1 hour fire resisting was fitted to the mezzanine floor to include 1 hour column casings, 1 hour fascia & a 1 hour ceiling. LED recessed modular lighting was fitted to the 1 hour ceiling complete with 1 hour fire canopies to ensure the fire resistance of the mezzanine floor was not compromised.

Emergency lighting was fitted to BS 5266 throughout the ground & first floor mezzanine areas.

On the new mezzanine first floor 2 offices were constructed from partitioning & also an open plan library area complete with Public Access balustrading forming a square atrium to maintain the feeling of openness below & let natural light filter through to the ground floor. Within these 2 offices HMF installed inverter heat pump wall mounted air conditioning systems to give good individual temperature control within each office to both heat in the winter & cool in the warmer summer months.

The existing lighting on the first floor was removed & new slimline LED energy efficient lighting was installed up inside the existing ceiling complete with emergency lighting.

The fire alarm system at the school was modified to achieve BS 5839 to both the new ground & first floor areas.

Finally, flooring was fitted throughout the various spaces with heavy duty contact grade carpet & associated nosings.

The project was completed on programme & within the budget & St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School are very pleased with their new space that has been created.