School test in Abu Dhabi

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Just off Airport Road, over the flyover out of Abu Dhabi, in the Al Khubairat district, there is a building project that will see one of the city’s most prestigious international schools double in size.

Not that the British School’s teachers, pupils or parents would know that there is such activity going on next to the main structure, they say, apart from the 15-foot hoardings around the construction area, the occasional rumble of machines and workers coming and going.

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The main contracting team of Al Fara’a General Contracting and the UK’s Wates Construction International have for the last year achieved the near impossible task of demolishing the existing structure, and set about building a two-storey structure (plus roof) without disturbing classes or the curriculum next door.

“We were really pleased when we actually got a call from the principal of the school, who just said ‘thank you’ that the school had not noticed we were there,” says Bernard Hunt, project manager at Wates International.

The two companies, which formed a JV two years ago to compete for school and other construction projects around the UAE capital, have now been working on-site for 15 months.

The $17.69m contract to demolish an existing structure, build a new structure on top and then work on the main building was signed last June, and was the first won by the JV since it started working together. It was followed up closely with the mandate to build an Aldar Academy in Al Bateen, now open for use.

The new building at the British School will contain new facilities for teaching over five floors, along with landscaped areas for interaction of children, two swimming pools and sports facilities, and open, balcony-like areas for bio-sciences.

The school will double in size when completed, though this will mean the existing 1,800 pupils will have more space and facilities rather than a proposed hike in student numbers.

Once completed, teaching staff and students will move into these new facilities and vacate the existing buildings. Keeping the students in mind was critical to the JV’s initial success, according to Steve Yazdabadi, director of the Middle East at the UK contractor.

“The key thing achieved for us is that, in early discussions, we did not necessarily speak about the building, but more about the school, and the lack of interference in their business,” he says. “If [the construction] interferes with classes, or if the electricity to the school was cut, you cannot get that lesson back again. And they understand that when they join you on-site. That is what made the difference.”

The total area is 10,000m2. Although the school will be transformed overall by the extension, it was important to produce something that fitted in with the rest of the institution and the area.

“We started with the curriculum; we knew what they were going to teach. The important thing is to build something that fits in with the rest of the school and the surroundings. So this is therefore not a flash building, but one of good quality,” says Yazdabadi.