The new arts and science block at Coppice Primary in Chigwell, Essex, was built using Ongar-based AcerMetric’s prefabricated panels.
Invented by company chairman David Appleford, who in a previous phase of his engineering design career developed sub-sea oil recovery technology, the system comprises a softwood frame and sheet material skins sandwiching pre-installed insulation.
Interlocking bolt fastening elements in the edges of the different wall, floor and roof components grab as they are brought together and are turned with a hexagonal key which tightens the connection.
Built at a cost of £1400/m2, the 460m2 school block comprises three ground floor classrooms, an arts studio and further classroom and toilets upstairs.
Erected on a concrete slab, the shell was completed in a fortnight, and the building finished in just a few months, ready for its opening this week.
AcerMetric markets its kit system for a range of applications, from houses and garden buildings, to offices, schools and commercial premises. Its quick build capability and strength, the company says, also suits it to disaster zones, including earthquake sites.
