The Project

The Leigh Academy is one of the highest achieving state comprehensive schools in England, specialising in business and enterprise subjects by using cutting edge technology and approaches to teaching and learning.

With almost 1,500 students passing through their state of the art buildings each day, The Leigh prides itself on being an exciting place to learn and work, providing exceptional facilities to do that in.

The Challenge

After 11 years since the reconstruction of the original school buildings, the academy washroom facilities had become tired and were in need of rejuvenation. The thoughtful design of the school provides inspirational spaces for students and staff, so it was crucial that the new washrooms would uphold existing standards, whilst taking into consideration respect for student privacy, ease of supervision and quality.

The Solution

The academy expressed a desire to remove doors upon entry to all toilet facilities around the school, to act as a deterrent against anti-social behaviour. This was possible with the employment of Venesta’s Titan full height toilet cubicle range, providing maximum privacy whilst maintaining the integrity of student safety with emergency access features.

Titan has a minimal floor clearance of just 10mm, meaning no one can peep under or over the cubicle doors, further reducing opportunities for bullying. In the event of an emergency, staff can release the cubicle door with our rapid release indicator bolts, which are grooved and can slide across to free the lock from the door without any breakage.

The use of the Solid Grade Laminate cubicle material, specified in a light grey laminate, has also helped to keep maintenance efforts low. The smooth surface of Solid Grade Laminate is really easy to clean and totally water proof so it can endure heavy duty cleaning; with the help of robust fittings it is also impact, heat and scratch resistant.

Venesta’s pre-plumbed Vepps panelling was selected as a solution to conceal exposed basin and WC pipework, so that it cannot be tampered with and can only be accessed with the use of a glazier lift. Not only will this extend longevity of these heavily used school washrooms, but speed up plumbing maintenance in the future, with the use of linear bearing hinges rather than removing panels, which is ideal where there are many to maintain.

Choosing the Titan cubicle range has allowed The Leigh Academy to supervise washroom areas without being invasive and at the same time prevents students from loitering in washrooms. Pairing this with pre-plumbed sanitaryware on Venesta’s Vepps panelling solution provided a quick summer holiday installation and has left the academy with a smart, uniform appearance across their washroom facilities.

Nicholas Campbell, Site Manager at The Leigh Academy was impressed with the washroom, he said: “After 11 years of constant use by Students and Staff, the toilets had become tired looking and certain components were broken. The aim was to create a pleasant washroom area for students as well as staff and Venesta have a proven record of providing quality and hardwearing washroom design”

Nicholas continued: “The cubicles are what our establishment are best pleased with; they are well made and will stand the heavy flow of traffic through them. Users have been pleased to see the transformation of old tired facilities to a bright inviting area to use.”

Learn all about the full height, privacy guaranteed cubicle range, Titan, here.