Magherafelt Primary School, Magherafelt

Doran Consulting was appointed to provide civil and structural engineering services for this new primary school and nursery school in Magherafelt. The school was constructed on a ‘brown-field’ site, which had formerly been the site of army barracks. Significant remediation works were required to deal with contamination on the site. Work involved the removal of contaminated material and the provision of a capping layer to prevent migration of contaminants to the surface.

Both of the new school buildings were formed from a combination of load-bearing masonry and braced steelwork framing.  As the site was sloping in nature, the school was built on a split level with adjoining single and 2-storey accommodation. A tanked retaining wall forms the split at floor level. Access between the floor levels is achieved through a lift and stair cores. The nursery building is separate and is a single-storey load-bearing masonry construction.

The school is at a lower level than the adjoining Castledawson Road, so connection to a foul pumping station was necessary to connect to a public sewer. A similar problem existed with the storm sewer, requiring a new sewer to be connected to a nearby water course.  This removed the need to pump stormwater from the site and the storm drainage design incorporated rainwater harvesting which is used for toilet flushing.