The UK’s digital and media hub in Salford is home to one of the most unusual schools in the country – UTC@MediaCityUK for 14-18-year-olds targeting digital and media jobs.
The four-storey school’s sleek black and space-grey exterior are proudly in the MediaCityUK skyline of futuristic and sustainable buildings.
Students get hands-on experience in specialisms from TV and film to radio and audio, graphics and design to interactive media and gaming from classrooms overlooking the BBC, ITV and the crisscrossed building of the University of Salford’s arts and media departments.
UTC is a radically different campus with massive filming studios, a gleaming radio studio and lives lounge, hi-tech gaming and design labs and a state-of-the-art science cluster.
The originality extends beyond the study environment: soft-seating group work areas incorporate built-in power- and data-points; acoustic panelling shrouds quiet study spaces; wifi is available everywhere, and there’s a unique rooftop football pitch and Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA).
The 29m by 17m MUGA sits on top of a first-floor roof, butted against the four-storey building, with the wall part of the play area.
Dawn Fencing Limited of Leigh, which has been going for more than 30 years and is the only fencing contractor dedicated solely to sports, installed the fencing on the other three sides.
They chose 4m-high Duo8 SuperRebound twin horizontal wire fencing panels from Zaun, which are highly durable, low maintenance, ‘graffiti proof and offered great rebound properties similar to a wall. They also minimise students having to head to the ground floor to retrieve balls exiting the MUGA!
Zaun had to design special base plates for the fence posts every 2.44m as they are mounted on the hard surface of the roof.
