St John Fisher Catholic High School

Architect: Gotch Saunders & Surridge
Contractor: Kier Eastern
Type of works: manufacture and installation of Adaptium roller blinds and vision panels.

St John Fisher Catholic High School is a mixed 11-18 comprehensive school with a rich catholic culture. The school has been modernised in the most environmentally friendly way and was designed to offer first class educational facilities for 750 pupils and the wider community. The new development includes classrooms, a library, a sports hall and an all-weather pitch, along with music, drama and ICT rooms. These facilities are located around a courtyard garden, with a chapel in the centre. The building acts as an educational resource with students able to monitor the amount of energy being produced using meters located throughout the site.

Adaptium roller blinds were particularly well suited for this high level shading installation. This product gives the flexibility of having chain, crank handle or motorised control options dependant on the demands of the project. In St John Fisher Catholic High School, crank handle controls where chosen with detachable handles, which avoided the need for excessively long, and possibly dangerous, chains. Additionally, with the flexibility of only one crank handle per room this represents a very cost effective solution. To combat the shading problem over the fire escapes, Faber has designed a detachable Velcro system to cover the panes whilst still allowing safe opening of the doors in the event of emergency.

Due to the success of the first shading package procured by Kier, Faber Blinds (UK) Ltd was selected to provide the remaining blinds for all other areas in the school.