Case Study

Archbishop McGrath Catholic High SchoolACO go top of the class

Building Drainage

'Photograph Copyright Girts Gailans

Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School

ACO has provided a series of functional and subtle

drainage solutions for the £20m state-of-the-art

Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School in

Bridgend, Wales. The three-storey site includes a

community leisure block incorporating both a sports

and a dance hall, and outdoor playing pitches that

will be open for use by the wider community. Among

the solutions provided by ACO were shower channels,

floor gullies for the toilets and drainage channels for

external paving.

The secondary school, which has 750 students aged

11-18, was originally located in Tondu to the north of

Bridgend. However, that building could no longer

meet the needs of a pupil population that had

doubled in the past 20 years, and therefore, the

decision was taken to relocate to a more accessible

area of Brackla, near the centre of the town. Working

with architects HLM, Leadbitter fulfilled the

challenging design, constructing a state-of-the-art,

21st century learning centre on behalf of the

Archdiocese of Cardiff, the Welsh Government and

Bridgend County Borough Council. Civil engineering

services were undertaken by Cuddy Group, who

prepared the site priorto Leadbitter Construction

commencing the building work.

Seven changing areas were required for the leisure

and sports facilities and here ACO shower gullies

proved to be an ideal solution, providing compact and

attractive capacity drainage in corrosion-resistant

stainless steel.

When it came to the toilets, ACO were called in to

solve a specific problem and were again able to

provide a solution that balanced cosmetic appearance

with the right drainage capacity. The open plan

design of the toilets required a channel in between

the boys’ and girls’ units but the concrete slab into

which the Drainage channel needed to fit had already

been cast. Tim Growdon, ACO Building Drainage’s

Regional Specification Manager, visited the school

and the Modular 125 Channel system was specified,

providing an easy, functional solution to the problem.

For the exterior of the building, ACO provided a

discreet series of “hidden” drainage channels for the

external paving, supporting the need to maintain

clean, functional design throughout the building.

These products were specified from ACO Water

Management MultiDrain MD polymer concrete

channel system.

Alex Smith, Project Manager for Cuddy, praised ACO’s

involvement in the Archbishop McGrath Catholic High

School project: “ACO supported the project all the

way down the line, offering full project design

services, on site measurements, and help specifying

products to make sure that every component was

suitable for the task. They were closely involved in

the planning of all the crucial stages, such as the

casting of the concrete levels to allow for drainage,

and their consistent support, advice, and attention to

detail were of great benefit to the project as a whole.”

The new Archbishop McGrath Catholic High School

was officially opened on Friday, 2nd December 2011,

by the Right Honourable Carwyn Jones, AM, First

Minister and the Most Reverend Archbishop George

Stack. The school has proved to be a triumph of

intelligent design, having been awarded both a

Secured by Design accreditation by South Wales

Police and a BREEAM (BRE Environmental

Assessment Method) Excellent rating, recognising

state-of-the-art, energy-saving and low carbon

technologies throughout, including natural ventilation,

passive temperature control and the use of

sustainable sourced materials.

Building Drainage

Case Study

For more information on our bespoke and designservices, contact ACO Building Drainage on 01462 816666 or email abdinfo@aco.co.uk. A full overview of ACO Building Drainage productsand resources is available at www.acobd.co.uk

ACO Building DrainageACO Business CentreCaxton RoadBedfordBedfordshireMK41 OLFUnited Kingdom

ACO Stainless Steel Gully

Key features:

� Hygienic design including large radii formed

contours, deep-drawn components and minimal

welds to minimise crevices and bacteria traps

according to BS EN 1672 and BS EN ISO 14159.

� Stainless steel gully fully compliant to

BS EN 1253.

� Available in 304 or 316 grades of stainless steel.

� Dry sump design ensures no standing waste

water in gully base.

� Fully removable and easily cleaned stainless steel

foul air trap (FAT).

� Removable hygienic and corrosion resistant

Nitrile FAT support.

� Wide range of gratings to Load Class L15 –

M125 (BS EN 1253) or C250 (BS EN 124).

Applications

� Kitchens.

� Food processing factories.

� Brewing, bottling and canning plants.

� Chilled warehouses.

� Schools and colleges.

� Chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

� Leisure industries.

� Human and animal healthcare.