It may be the summer holiday, but that doesn’t mean the Aspire building is like a ghost town, it is still a hive of activity with various projects now underway that can only be completed outside of term time.
As always Household Support are in the process of ‘deep cleaning’ every nook and cranny of Aspire, moving anything that isn’t nailed down to get at that grime and muck that can build up over time.
Deep cleaning on C floor
Site staff have an army of outside contractors in the building servicing everything from air-con units to the lift shaft to gardening work. Then there are always some room changes just to keep Mr Challenger and Mr Smith on their toes and this holiday is no different with A4 and A6 being repurposed, alongside furniture being moved and swapped in various offices and classrooms.
Refuse/recycle bin servicing on the yard and scaffold being moved between floors
Hedgerow and garden maintenance all around the Aspire site
Our IT infrastructure is getting a boost in the shape of brand-new Aruba wi-fi access points and switches to handle them, courtesy of a government initiative called Connect the Classroom, all being installed by outside contractor companies Medhurst IT and Comptech IT Solutions.
This will give the entire Aspire site a reliable and consistent online experience from the main building to D-block, onto the yard and down in the sports hall.
There are also some new servers being installed to replace the aging servers from Collegiate and Bispham High School days that currently accomodate our virtual server environment.
Our new wi-fi network
The sports hall has seen a major piece of refurbishment by being entirely resurfaced. Local company Contract Floors Ltd first made repairs to the existing wooden floor to give it a good base. They then put down a thin layer of rubber so the playing surface has some 'give' or bounce to it and finally they poured two layers of polyurethane which gave the appearance of gloopy water filling the sports hall. Once the polyurethane had dried the lines and markings for the courts were put in place to finish the job. This type of modern flooring has no joins meaning no weak spots, is versatile and extremely durable making it ideal for multi-purpose use, and won't need any maintenance for at least 20 years.
New swimming pool at Aspire? No, just the polyurethane coating
...and the finished product
And let’s not forget that our all-weather pitches are in daily use with Blackpool Football Club Community Trust holding the Aspire Hub Football Camp throughout the holidays.
