Millthorpe School, York, North Yorkshire

Overcrowded dining halls can create significant logistical problems for educational establishments. For the Millthorpe School in York, North Yorkshire, issues around circulation and bottlenecks created lengthy lunchtime queues in their existing dining facilities.

Millthorpe School is part of the Southbank Academy Trust, and the Leadership Team were looking for a long-term solution to resolve the issues they were experiencing during break and lunchtime dining periods. Part of a larger £1.9m upgrade scheme by Project Managers, Eddisons, the creation of a new external covered dining structure was required alongside the extension of the school’s existing dining hall, and refurbishing the existing teaching areas and toilet blocks at the school.

An enclosed specification TAURUS Glulam Structure, developed with IR heaters and high-efficiency LED lighting to meet the trust’s vision for this project and ensured the new dining space could be usable year-round.

The final design of the enclosed dining facility comprised a twin barrel vault design form and central posts, a PVC tensile membrane roof and toughened glass external walling, with the design of a bespoke bin screen system and green roof cycle store included as part of the full package of works.

The overall scheme reached completion in December 2022 after a four-month construction process, with the TAURUS Glulam structure successfully installed to coincide with this. The new enclosed dining structure has helped create a central hub at the school that can be utilised year-round, providing increased capacity to serve more pupils at lunchtime and encourage a more orderly atmosphere, while opening up circulation space by maximising the school’s available external space.