Successful Collaboration and Strategic Planning: Key to Northgate High School’s Infrastructure Project

Following Suffolk County Council’s project to install electricity sub-metering at the school, we tested and inspected the existing main Molded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB) panels supplying the school’s buildings. The MCCB panels in the school block building also needed replacement.

The school premises included seven teaching blocks, a community Performing Arts Centre, a Sports Centre with outdoor floodlit facilities, and a grounds building with an equipment store.

To successfully conclude the project, Concertus had to involve multiple stakeholders within Suffolk County Council, the Performing Arts Centre, the Sports Centre, Northgate High School, Vertas Grounds, and the main contractor, Dalkia, to agree on shutdown dates and plan the works.

One proposed solution was to install mobile generators to supply power to each block. However, this would have required extensive building fabric works to install temporary power cables and needed to be financially viable.

Instead, a decision was made to supply a generator for the Vertas Ground’s building, which was still operational during the school summer holidays. The team worked diligently to minimise disruption to the community facilities during the summer break, particularly for the Performing Arts Centre, which had pre-planned events that required support to continue.

UK Power Networks’ planned shutdown was delayed by 48 hours due to an event. Temporary lighting was required during this time to facilitate students’ use of the facilities and to load their instruments onto transport in the early hours. The event proceeded without any issues.

The sports centre had to close its internal facilities during the planned shutdown. However, due to the light evenings over the summer, outdoor sports facilities continued, and temporary facilities were provided for the users.

Fire and intruder alarms were offline during the shutdown, so fire watch and extra security patrols were necessary.

With A Level and GCSE results being issued in August, it was crucial to allow UK Power Networks to re-energise the site by August 12th. The school needed time to bring its IT systems back online and ensure they were ready to receive the A Level results.

After completing the works, UK Power Networks re-energised the site on August 7th, ahead of schedule, and all blocks were powered back up in a controlled manner. We want to extend our gratitude to all those involved, including Suffolk County Council, Northgate High School, Vertas Grounds and Dalkia, for their professionalism and contribution to the successful completion of this complex project.