Wixams Tree Primary Academy, Bedford, UK

NEC contracts were used to extend both a primary and secondary school in Bedfordshire. Bedford Borough Council initially engaged Wilmott Dixon under an NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) Option A (priced contract with activity schedule) to enlarge Wixams Tree Primary Academy near Bedford in April 2022. 

The school for four- to eleven-year-olds, built in 2017, originally had a capacity for 420 children, meaning it could offer two-form entry from reception through years 1 to 6. The £4 million two-storey extension, which included a new rest area and multi-use hall, upgraded the school to three-form entry.

It was agreed in the early stages of development that, to reflect the council’s commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030, the extension should be carbon zero in operation. The primary school has solar photovoltaic panels on the roof and is built to the area guidelines in Department for Education Building Bulletin 103. 

During construction, the scope was progressively increased to include installing eight modular classrooms at the adjacent Wixams Academy Secondary School, as well as a temporary nursery at the primary school site. The works at the primary school were completed on programme in May 2023 and the final modular units were installed at the secondary school in September 2023. The agreed final contract cost was £5.2 million. 

Pick Everard, part of the Perfect Circle consortium, was engaged as NEC project manager and supervisor under an NEC3 Professional Services Contract. Both it and the contractor were procured through NEC-based Scape frameworks.

One-team approach

In line with the NEC requirement to act in a ‘spirit of mutual trust and co-operation’, the project team adopted a one-team approach from the outset. Furthermore, procurement through the Scape framework meant the project team were in place from the earliest stages. The atmosphere of collaboration then remained over the course of the project lifecycle through effective administration of the ECC Option A contract.

Risks were identified pre-contract and agreed with the contractor, which managed each risk and its associated mitigation. Events with time or cost impacts, such as addition of the modular classrooms and nursery, were notified as NEC early warnings on the Sypro contract management system and continually reviewed by the core project team.

The core team met regularly to discuss and review any issues with the programme. Following NEC processes, decisions were made promptly and fairly, and formalised with issue of project manager instructions, acceptance or notification of compensation events, review and agreement of compensation event quotations and issues of programme.

Claire Peacock, project manager at Pick Everard, says, ‘A very thorough and collaborative open-book transparent approach was adopted to enable the team to make decisions, which contributed to the success of the project.’ In total just three early warnings and 18 compensation events were notified during the 54-week programme. All early warnings were closed, and all compensation events were agreed before handover of the primary school site in May 2023.

Benefits of using NEC

• NEC requirement to act in a spirit of mutual trust and co-operation led to a collaborative, one-team approach from the outset.
• Changes in scope were identified as NEC early warnings and discussed, agreed and managed by the contractor, helping to ensure both school sites were completed on time and to the agreed budget.
• Decisions on compensation events were made promptly, fairly and before completion, leaving no outstanding issues.