(Video) Multi-room refurbishment at North Walsham Infant and Junior Schools
Overview
North Walsham Infant and Junior Schools, part of the Broad Horizons Education Trust, required a comprehensive washroom overhaul across its Reception and Year 1 and 2 facilities to create safer, more hygienic and durable environments for young pupils. Focus Washrooms was appointed to manage the project, providing end to end design, dismantling, construction and specialist fitting services.
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By removing outdated fixtures, reconfiguring room layouts and installing specialised primary age sanitaryware, the transformation delivered robust, easy to maintain washroom spaces designed for early years education.
The brief
Primary school washrooms demand carefully considered solutions that prioritise child safety, independent use and robust performance against heavy daily use. The primary objective was to replace ageing cubicles and pipework with colourful, child friendly fixtures, hygienic wall cladding and anti-scald, water efficient plumbing systems.
The specific brief called for:
No urinals and increased capacity: Not including urinals and demolishing an old hot water system cupboard to maximise space, successfully increasing the total WC count from 11 to 16.
Enhanced safeguarding: Reconfiguring the layout to remove all hidden areas within the rooms to improve pupil visibility and safeguarding.
Bespoke environmental solutions: Designing and installing a fresh air extraction system with vents to the outside, as all four rooms are surrounded by classrooms without external walls or windows.
Service concealment: Creating timber boxing and low suspended ceilings to neatly conceal all pipework, electrical conduits and ducts.
Child specific sizing: Installing age appropriate WC pan heights and wash stations that encourage independence.
Vibrant styling: Brightening the spaces using a modern Letterbox Red and Elephant Grey colour palette.
Reception
The Reception facility was updated to support the school's youngest learners, balancing accessibility with high capacity fixtures:
Cubicle and duct systems: Installed Solid Grade Laminate (SGL) standard cubicles and matching half height WC duct panelling in bright Letterbox Red with Elephant Grey shadows and division panels.
Child friendly sanitaryware: Fitted child height back to wall WC pans featuring concealed push button cisterns and metal hinged seats.
Smart wash troughs and water heating: Supplied white trough basins housing multiple wash stations equipped with anti-blocking non-concussive taps, thermostatic mixing valves and compact point of use electric water heaters fitted directly inside the vanity units.
Walls, flooring and ceiling: Lined walls with white hygienic PVC cladding over new timber backed partition walls. Fitted slip resistant Obsidian sheet vinyl flooring with coved perimeter upstands and a new modular suspended grid ceiling with recessed LED lighting.
Year 1 and 2
The Year 1 and 2 areas were reconfigured to maximise space, privacy and durability:
Increased privacy cubicles: Installed full height privacy SGL cubicles featuring high headrails, low floor gaps, Letterbox Red doors and Elephant Grey fascias.
Sanitaryware and layout changes: Removed outdated masonry walls and wall hung urinal troughs to optimise space. Installed child height back to wall WC pans with concealed ducting.
Ergonomic wash stations: Installed white trough basins featuring wash stations with soft touch, anti-blocking taps, dedicated thermostatic temperature controls and integrated water heating.
Surface upgrades: Completed full wall coverage using white hygienic cladding, Obsidian safety vinyl flooring and a renewed suspended grid ceiling with custom extraction ducting and LED lighting.
Infrastructure, safety and sustainability pgrades
Anti-flooding technology: The installed push taps feature an anti-blocking system with a 10 year manufacturer warranty, ensuring water only flows when the push action is released to eliminate deliberate flooding risks.
Energy and water efficiency: Upgraded to PIR activated LED lighting and extraction fans, reducing energy consumption. Concealed dual flush WC cisterns and flow regulated taps deliver significant water savings compared to traditional fittings.
Child safety measures: All SGL cubicles incorporate built in anti-finger trap hinges and rounded edges to protect small hands.
The outcome
The completed refurbishment provided North Walsham Infant and Junior Schools with modern, vibrant and highly functional washroom facilities tailored to early years education. By utilising impact resistant Solid Grade Laminate with a 15 year material guarantee, easy clean hygienic wall cladding and intelligent space planning, Focus Washrooms delivered an environment built for safety, pupil safeguarding and long term performance.
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