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Over the summer holidays the first and probably most critical phase of the re-building programme has taken place. Some 50% of the existing buildings had to be de-canted and then demolished. Sixteen temporary classrooms have been put in place and a new temporary administration block erected. Add in the complications of ensuring that the school's administration could still operate over the holidays and it all added up to what could have been a logistical nightmare.
But here we are, nearing the end of August and we are almost ready to greet our new students and begin the academic year. We are delighted with our temporary accommodation and all our infrastructure is in place - and working!!!
An unbelievable amount of work has already taken place and the Bouygues team has delivered exactly what they promised. To build a new school on a restricted site while the school continues to operate is a real challenge and one that will no doubt bring its own headaches in due course but we are delighted with the way the progamme has begun. Certainly the relationship with the Bouygues project team on site has been a critical factor in ensuring the project has started so well. The project manager, Alex Besson and his assistant Aurore Bertolani have been quite superb and have built an excellent relationship with myself and my facilities team.
If the rest of the project progresses in the way that the first phase has been handled, I am confident that what could have been a logistical nightmare will in a fact become a very smooth operation with minimal impact on the running of the school.
Peter Walsh
Head-teacher
Forest Hill School
