Tideway Community School, Newhaven

Tideway Community School, Newhaven

Tideway Community School in Newhaven, East Sussex, is a specialist technical college with approximately 650 students aged 11-16 years. East Sussex County Council commissioned a new building in 2005 to support the local community by upgrading learning facilities and improving education opportunities for students.

The new school design consisted of two, independent seven-floor buildings. Mackellar Schwerdt Architects recognised that the area between the two towers could be linked by a central atrium with a glazed roof. This would facilitate communication and circulation between the two buildings as well as help to retain natural light penetration and air ventilation in this area. Additionally, as Newhaven is located on the south coast of the UK, a critical factor for Kier Group was to install a glazing system that could resist exposure to high wind loads and potential corrosion from the harsh coastal environment.

When Kier Group looked at designing and building the skylight it needed specialist technical skills and turned to SkyLight Solutions for the design, manufacture and installation. The skylight consists of a 30 degree dual-pitch structure measuring 23m long and 5.5m span. The skylight is divided along its length into 25 equal bays. The sloped roof section is fixed glazing. The vertical sides incorporate 20 Schüco AWS 60 top-hung opening windows with 230 volt electrical actuators. SkyLight Solutions installed a Schüco FW50+ glazing system. The glazing consists of 6mm clear, heat-soaked, toughened glass with Pilkington Activ self-cleaning coating, a 16mm cavity filled with argon gas, and an 8.8mm clear laminated layer with Pilkington SN Low-E coating. The aluminium skylight frameworks have a marine grade Synthatec polyester powder coating.

The skylight provides an umbrella over two independent buildings, allows natural light into the entire atrium area and, in conjunction with the ventilation system, automatically links the classrooms with the atrium windows to improve air circulation. The high-quality installation is protected from the effects of the coastal environment. It was delivered on time and on budget. The new school was opened in February 2009 by East Sussex County Council and provides state-of-the-art facilities for students in the community.

Julian Goodliffe, Project Manager, Kier Group said, “This was a very good solution dealing with some difficult engineering requirements. SkyLight Solutions were always responsive and effective during design and delivery. This is a fantastic building and the atrium skylight helps to create a real wow factor.”