Ribblesdale Primary School

Ribblesdale Primary School is a brand-new primary school in Clitheroe, built to provide additional primary school places for pupils in the area. The school has been designed and constructed to meet carbon net-zero status, including the installation of a ground-source heat pump and solar panels.

On behalf of contractor Equans, Bethell Utility Services will be responsible for the design and installation of water and electric connections to the school site. Successful delivery required close collaboration with both the client and the local authority, Lancashire County Council, to meet a strict deadline to complete works before the start of the new school year. Weekly meetings were held between Bethell, Lancashire County Council and the client, which allowed us to be more proactive. As a result, Bethell was able to complete all works in a timely manner.

Bethell Utility Services supplied the site with an HV point of connection, substation, LV terms and a 63mm water service connection for the school. This required the installation of 35m of water pipe, 720m of HV cable, 80m of LV cable and approximately 250m of earth cable.

On the day of energisation, Bethell Utility Services identified a fault with the switchgear, which may have caused damage to the transformer. As a result, rectifying the issue would have required returning the switchgear to the manufacturer in Turkey, drastically delaying the project schedule.

To minimise delays, Electricity North West and Bethell worked quickly to procure a replacement switchgear from their supplier instead, enabling ENW to switch out and replace, therefore ensuring the school had a live connection and was ready to welcome their first tranche of students at the start of the school year.