High performing Derbyshire school receives a colourful addition to its campus, with the help of Dulux Trade

Wilsthorpe Community School in Derbyshire recently added a brand new £16m building to its campus.

The new building project was a part of the Government’s ‘Priority Schools Building Programme’ – an initiative to rebuild or refurbish schools to improve the overall standards of school buildings, creating classrooms which are conducive to learning and providing access to world class facilities for pupils and teachers.

James Harrison of Kier Construction, the main contractors delivering the Wilsthorpe project, says: “The overall cost of the project was £14m and it took over 18 months of construction to bring it to completion.

“When choosing the paint that we wanted to specify for the project we were very conscious that there was likely to be a lot of wear and tear in certain areas, specifically the corridors, as large numbers of pupils moved around in between lessons.

“We needed to choose a paint that we knew would stand the test of time, even in such a high traffic area as a school corridor, so we felt confident choosing the range of Dulux Trade Diamond products. The paint’s long-wearing power and superior durability made us sure that it would be the right choice for the project.”

Jonathan Crofts, Headteacher at Wilsthorpe School, says: “When selecting the colour palette for the project, I was very keen to choose distinctive colours for each floor of the building, to assist our students in easily identifying where they were within the school.

“We had a focal colour for each floor, including the pale blue shade of Blue Lagoon, warm toned Raspberry Bellini and a bold splash of colour from Dulux shade Striking Cyan.

“Both the students and the staff are thrilled with the end result. Not only has the new building expanded our campus and enhanced the students’ learning environment, but with the carefully selected colour palette, it really is an exciting and pleasant space to be in.”

Education Sector Specification Lead, Ian Gisbourne says, “Our team of specification experts are working with Architects, Designers, Client and Contractors delivering schools within the PSBP programme. The paint specification for this project was compiled to deliver against the performance criteria detailed in table 7 of the EFA Technical Annex 2D: Internal Elements and Finishes and we believe the Diamond range of products is a best fit for these criteria.”

Dulux Trade combine value engineered product specification, with evidence-based colour and design, to help teachers and children thrive through the power of their school environment. Believing that every penny should count towards giving children the best learning experience, we help the school to select the most durable products reducing maintenance cycles and therefore lower running costs. Our expert colour consultants also guide schools on the best ways to optimise teaching spaces, using their Education design principles to deliver better teaching and learning outcomes; such as boosting learner concentration, and building a sense of pride and identity.

If you are working on the design for a school project, try our Colour Schemer app which makes it quick and easy to select ready-made colour schemes for school buildings. If there is a feature or flooring that needs to be coordinated with, simply select it as the core colour, and within a couple of clicks Dulux Trade Colour Schemer will offer you professionally designed moodboards that will work in this space.

For technical advice, contact us at TAC_supportedservices@akzonobel.com