CMS helps transform listed former high school into new primary school

The new £8.6m Duns Primary School and educational campus, designed by Aitken Turnbull Architects and delivered by main contractor GRAHAM Construction, provides a high-quality learning environment for over 450 pupils, with the latest facilities and infrastructure required to support children from the ages of three to twelve.

It is also home to the Berwickshire Locality Support Centre which assists children with additional needs by providing access to a wider range of staff expertise and integrated services.

The project enabled the school to move from its existing premises in the town, which were largely in a Victorian building that was no longer suited to the needs of modern education.

Scottish Borders Council and Hub South East Scotland initiated the project, with part funding from the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), to relocate to the former Berwickshire High School site which had been unused since a new purpose-built high school was developed in 2009, leaving the B-listed 1950s building vacant.

An extensive refurbishment programme was agreed which involved the complete replacement of the windows, doors and curtain walling throughout the two-storey building. Key to the success of transforming the school building, which has been described as ‘a fine example of a Modernist building’, was the determination to preserve as much of the existing school as possible.

CMS Window Systems was appointed by GRAHAM to manufacture and install windows, doors and curtain walling for the project in anthracite grey to deliver a superb visual appearance thanks to their slim profiles, whilst maintaining excellent thermal and acoustic performance in conjunction with the glazing specification.

The 223 windows were manufactured using Kawneer’s new thermally efficient GT70S system, a first for the UK. The 14 doors are a combination of Kawneer’s AA720 heavy duty entrance and AA100 lift/slide doors and the 125m2of curtain walling was created using Kawneer’s AA100 zone/mullion drained curtain walling system.

The windows, doors and curtain walling features 28.6mm double glazed units which are manufactured using an external 6mm Planiclear Securit COOL-LITE SKN174 II pane, a 16mm black warm edge spacer bar and a 6.8mm Planiclear laminated inner pane – with the cavity being a 90% argon fill.

This makes an important contribution to a low overall U-value for the fenestration, with an optimum balance of solar gain and natural light transmission to help provide a comfortable, productive learning environment.

Stephen Anderson, Aluminium Contracts Director at CMS Window Systems said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed by GRAHAM to work on the new Duns Primary School project. It is an excellent example of how we can preserve Scotland’s architectural heritage whilst providing the highest quality new facilities to support the government’s goals for improvement in educational achievement. The quality of the school buildings is a major factor in learning outcomes which makes this kind of building project all the more important.”