NEXT PHASE OF NAILSEA SCHOOL PROJECT
Survey work is due to start shortly on the playing fields at Nailsea Community School. The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has allocated North Somerset Council just under £28.9million to rebuild the secondary school on its current site by the end of 2009.
The existing school playing fields have been identified as the location for the new school. The surveys will determine the best position for the new building on this site.
The council has appointed consultant engineers Faber Maunsell to carry out the work which will be done in two phases. Initially a geophysical survey will be carried out where the playing fields will be scanned to highlight any potential underground problems. This will be followed by a geotechnical survey which will involve drilling boreholes and digging trenches to confirm the most suitable position for the new building.
The consultants will also be carrying out a geophysical survey of the Golden Valley site, which is owned by Nailsea School, with a view to using part of the area for temporary sports pitches whilst the new school is being built.
Cllr Jeremy Blatchford, the council's executive member for children and young people's services, said: "The surveys are normal practice for a building project of this scale. In this case the work is particularly important because Nailsea was historically a mining area.
"We have a lot of historical data on the site earmarked for the new school which does not show anything up, but we need to carry out a thorough examination of the ground to make sure it provides a suitable location for the new building."
