LES Quennevais School was built in accordance with the ‘bible’ used for UK school construction, the government has said, despite pupils being sent home on multiple occasions this summer amid stifling temperatures.
Students at the £40 million school – which opened in September 2020 – were also told to wear PE kit instead of uniform during the Island’s heatwave, because of air-conditioning problems which are not due to be rectified until after the summer break, with the government having to foot the bill.
In a response to a series of questions lodged by the JEP, the government said that the new school was functioning ‘within technical design parameters’.
The government response, approved by Infrastructure Minister Tom Binet, also confirmed that air conditioning was not part of the original design for the school – as a result of their being no maximum temperature for classrooms specified by the UK Department for Education or the School Premises (England) Regulations 2012.
The response also confirmed there was no recourse to the contractor because ‘the building was functioning to specification’. This has meant the government is footing the bill for rectifying problems. The JEP has asked what the total cost of this work is estimated to be, and is awaiting a response.
Deputy Binet and Education Minister Inna Gardiner visited the school within hours of being elected to the new roles last month in order to assess the situation.
Design of the new school was carried out to the ‘Building Bulletin’ standard, the government confirmed, adding: ‘The specification accepts that there will be hot days and against that specification, the school is functioning within technical design parameters.’
When a heatwave coincided with the early stages of the autumn term in September 2021, ‘operating issues’ were identified.
The response added: ‘These [issues] were resolved but it became clear that, even with these faults rectified and the system operating correctly, the school management did not consider this resulted in a good educational environment.’
Mitigation options were commissioned by Jersey Property Holdings, the government team responsible for the project.
Although new air handling units were due to be installed in spring of this year, the units then became unavailable at only a week’s notice as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government has said.
During the current summer holiday, they say, work is being carried out as follows: ‘Mechanical cooling units are being inserted to try and adapt the breathable buildings system to mitigate higher temperatures for specifically identified problem classrooms. Additional solar screening and shading measures are also being implemented.’
Asked whose responsibility it was to ensure that the building was fit for purpose and what accountability existed, the response stated: ‘The building has been constructed to a best-practice specification and is functioning within that specification.
‘Work is underway to determine that if the UK school design specification is not acceptable in the Island, what alternative specifications might be available. The cost impact of adopting an alternative specification would have to be evaluated, as this will be a completely new design parameter that would apply across the entire educational estate.’
