Washroom refurbs at college over multiple sites
Overview
Leicester College is Leicestershire’s leading provider of further education, post 16 training and higher education qualifications and has over 19,000 students ranging from 14-75. It’s a thriving, modern and diverse place to study and is the most popular choice in the region for learning. We were approached by Leicester College to manage the redesign and installation of their new washrooms across their site.
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All of the old facilities were removed to make way for a fresh and new washroom design that students and teachers would love. It’s important to have robust and durable washrooms and ones that are designed to last and with hygiene front of mind. The Focus Washrooms team installed a brand new suite across the site with complementing colour schemes.
The aesthetic design was very important to our client and they wanted to create a space that was smart and stylish for their students. Together, we chose timberwolf woodgrain which is easy to keep clean and maintain. This was set against a simple but sleek white and grey colour scheme. To add a touch of fun and extra interest the tiles were laid in a unique checkerboard design where we had one gloss tile followed by one matt tile.
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At the beginning of the project, our team worked closely with Leicester College’s facilities management team to establish their exact requirements. Typically at this stage, we’ll discuss layout, hygiene, durability and then define the number of toilets and washbasins. In all our projects, we will be sure to consider accessibility also. We’ll establish a budget that the client is comfortable with and then provide a detailed project schedule so the client is kept up to date every step of the way.
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The project took place during challenging times when there were COVID restrictions in place and also when there was an unprecedented demand for building material supplies. Unfortunately many projects across the UK encountered delays due to the supply chain shortage, however, many of our materials are made in-house meaning we were still able to deliver on time and on budget.
Another challenge was that the existing wall tiles in place had been mounted on plasterboard originally. This was unusual and so was not planned in the scope of the project. It meant that virtually all walls had to be stripped out and rebuilt. By adding the extra resource to the project, the team were able to complete this without extending the agreed programme of work.
One challenge our team is very experienced in, is that the project took place during term time. Thanks to precise planning and a schedule that would be split into multiple phases to accommodate students and teachers, the project ran smoothly with little to no disruption to Leicester College’s day to day running.
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As Director of Estates and Campus Services of Leicester College, Shaun Curtis’ priority is to ensure the smooth running of the college and provide environments that facilitate exceptional learning. We worked closely with Shaun who was thrilled with the project outcome.
He noted how impressed he was with how fast and non-disruptive the tradesmen were on-site and he was happy that thanks to the laminate materials used for the cubicles, vanities and duct panelling were made in-house, the washrooms were all completed on time.
“Leicester College worked with Focus on a number of toilet refurbishments across our main campuses, we were impressed with the professionalism and communication of Josh and the design team and the end result delivered represent high end toilets for our student cohort”