A £6m project to transform the way schools and healthcare facilities are built has been granted £2.9m of funding to showcase the future of modern methods of construction (MMC) in the UK. The consortium-led Seismic II project is working on the future of construction. Among a range of outcomes, the
Work has started on a new £4.85m, two-storey early years and infant building at Withernsea Primary School in Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire. The project will involve the construction of 11 new classrooms, a hall, studio, kitchen with servery, offices and staff facilities, covering 1,635 square feet of gross internal
Plans to deliver an essential new school for east Birmingham in 2021 remain on track, despite the challenges of one of the wettest winters on record and the recent Covid-19 crisis. The Eden Boys’ Leadership Academy, Birmingham East is an 800-place multi-faith school being delivered by Wates Construction in the Alum Rock
The construction of three existing schools, which will accommodate an additional 990 students in Sandwell, has just been started by Willmott Dixon. The £23.8 million projects include Q3 Academy Langley, West Bromwich Collegiate Academy and Bristnall Hall Academy, all three being able to provide school places from September 2021. Designed
To coincide with the August opening of Birch, the ‘next-generation escape’ hotel just outside London, international architecture and interiors practice Red Deer have considered how Covid19 challenges the luxury hotel market. Covid19 has created a distance between us for a period of time, but when we come back together in
National contractor Wates Construction has been awarded a £16m contract to build the new state-of-the-art The Whitehaven Academy School, its second educational facility in the area after completing Campus Whitehaven last year. The development will replace the existing Whitehaven Academy School on Cleator Moor Road, which will be demolished to
Children at Kirkby Church of England Primary school designed posters that were displayed along site hoardings at the 12-acre GMI retail park development project in Kirkby During Covid-19 GMI Construction Group has been working with children from Kirkby Church of England Primary School to showcase posters that the school children
Construction has started on the £3.9m renovation of King Edward VI School in Lichfield, with works being led by Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson for Staffordshire County Council under the Staffordshire Construction framework. This is the second contract secured by G F Tomlinson through the Staffordshire Construction framework for Staffordshire
Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson is celebrating a triumphant triple win as two of its recent projects received three accolades, including ‘Project of the Year’, at the 2020 RICS Social Impact Awards. RICS (Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors) announced winners of the RICS Social Impact Awards for the East Midlands
Milton Keynes Council has selected a contractor to take forward plans for a new £29 million school in Wavendon. Morgan Sindall Construction has been named as preferred bidder to build a new 1,530 place school under a pre-construction services agreement. Located at Glebe Farm, this ‘all-through’ school will be open
A £6m project to transform the way schools and healthcare facilities are built has been granted £2.9m of funding to showcase the future of modern methods of construction (MMC) in the UK. The consortium-led Seismic II project is working on the future of construction. Among a range of outcomes, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funded project via the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund will create a set of standardised reconfigurable components, working closely with the Construction Innovation Hub to align platform interface standards. These components will reduce waste, cost and carbon dioxide emissions while increasing speed of delivery. The consortium is conscious of the need to align and harmonise its work with the outputs of the Construction Innovation Hub and will be working with them throughout to ensure maximum impact. Government procurement is already set to shift from traditional construction methods to MMC. Seismic II will show how this shift can happen while meeting the government’s own ‘Construction 2025’ vision of lower costs and emissions, faster delivery and an increase in exports from the industry. Currently, most traditional UK construction relies on bespoke systems created by individual manufacturers. A lack of standardisation means different systems are incompatible, causing errors, delays and defects. Seismic II builds on the success of the Seismic I project, which showed how a standardised light steel frame could change the way new schools were designed and constructed. With the new award from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the system will encompass the production of wall, floor, ceiling and roof components that are all completely interoperable with the standardised light steel frame. The automotive industry has long been the standard bearer for streamlined production and component assembly. The aim of Seismic II is to show that similar principles can be applied to the construction industry. Along with improving the offsite production processes for projects using MMC, Seismic II will also look at the whole life performance of the buildings produced that way. The government’s industrial strategy aims to reduce the construction costs and whole life costs of buildings by a third, while seeing those same buildings delivered in half the time and with a 50% reduction in carbon emissions from the sector. Adopting MMC is essential to meet those targets and Seismic II is well-positioned to deliver on them. Centred around a digital approach to design, production and operation, the platform will use linked data from start to finish. This approach ensures that the building delivered on site matches the design intent, performs as expected, and can be managed efficiently throughout its life. Originally intended for school construction, Seismic II has drawn interest from the healthcare, commercial and residential sectors. The completed demonstrator building will be a template for high performance buildings of all types, delivered using high quality, reliable, standardised components. As well as Elliott, the consortium includes: blacc LTD (the consortium and project manager) McAvoy Group Tata Steel Manufacturing Technology Centre Active Building Centre National Composite Centre John Campbell, Elliott’s Managing Director commented; “Elliott is excited to continue working with the Seismic Consortium and build on the success of the standardised design which is now being deployed on live schemes. This next ambitious step will see us developing Seismic I into a total building envelope solution that can be adopted across the Government’s estate and support their carbon zero aspirations. Through continued collaboration we aim to deliver the most advanced and robustly tested product in the offsite sector. With significant investment in our assembly facility and processes, by adopting modern methods of manufacturing we will embed quality 4.0, drive up productivity and reduce waste using lean methodology to lead the charge in how construction projects are delivered in the UK.”
Work has started on a new £4.85m, two-storey early years and infant building at Withernsea Primary School in Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire. The project will involve the construction of 11 new classrooms, a hall, studio, kitchen with servery, offices and staff facilities, covering 1,635 square feet of gross internal floor area. An official ground-breaking ceremony took place on land adjacent to the site to mark the start of construction. The scheme, which is being delivered by Henry Boot Construction, will retain the school’s original Victorian schoolhouse – a heritage asset – which will be retained for further educational use. The project will also involve the demolition of the school’s existing South Building, with pupils remaining in the existing school facilities for the start of the 2020/21 academic year until the work is completed. In addition to the new block, the school’s existing playgrounds will be retained and enhanced, with the site’s existing car park also extended. The project is the second scheme Henry Boot Construction has undertaken as part of the Department for Education’s £4.4billion Priority School Building Programme (PSBP). Tony Shaw, Operations Director at Henry Boot Construction, said: “This project is hugely significant for Withernsea Primary School and its surrounding catchment areas and is one we’re extremely proud to be delivering. “We have worked closely with the Department for Education during the planning process in order to create a new, sustainable, modern environment which will become a vital part of thousands of pupils’ education.” Withernsea Primary School Headteacher, Angela Harper, said: “Construction starting of the new building here at Withernsea is a landmark moment in our recent history. “It’s taken a good deal of planning and time to get to this point and we can’t wait for the new building to be completed. I look forward to welcoming the youngest school age children from Withernsea into brand new, purpose-built facilities which they deserve.” Withernsea Academy Trust is part of the Hull Collaborative Academy Trust (HCAT), which was formed by four primary school heads who had a passion for School Improvement in 2013. The Academy Trust has now grown to 14 Primary Schools and one Secondary. HCAT CEO Estelle Macdonald OBE said: “It is fantastic that the Children of Withernsea will be able to learn in a brand-new, high-quality educational environment and we look forward to the day we can welcome the first pupils in next year.” For more information on Withernsea Primary School, visit https://withernseaprimary.co.uk/news/. For more information on Henry Boot Construction visit https://www.henrybootconstruction.co.uk and for more on the Department for Education’s Priority School Building Programme, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/priority-school-building-programme-psbp.
Plans to deliver an essential new school for east Birmingham in 2021 remain on track, despite the challenges of one of the wettest winters on record and the recent Covid-19 crisis. The Eden Boys’ Leadership Academy, Birmingham East is an 800-place multi-faith school being delivered by Wates Construction in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, on behalf of Star Academies, one of the leading Multi Academy Trusts in the country. Construction work on the school started in January this year and is set to complete in April 2021, in time for the new academic year in September. John Carlin, Wates Construction’s Regional Managing Director for the Midlands, said that a combination of adapting working practices on site and a focus on using offsite manufacturing had ensured the project remained on programme. He said: “We commenced groundworks during a period of incredibly poor weather, followed almost immediately by the Covid-19 crisis, so it’s a real testament to the dedication of the team that the project remains very much on target for its completion date in 2021. “As with all our sites, there was a short period of lockdown in line with Government guidelines but we were then able to restart the site once we had established a series of protocols that would ensure the safety of everybody working on the project.” “We are now nearing the completion of the superstructure of the main building and over the next two months we will add the steel frame system and the façade. Importantly we are also working closely with our mechanical, electrical and plumbing partner, SES Engineering Services, to integrate a number of innovative offsite solutions that are driving significant efficiencies in the build programme and helping reduce the number of people we need on site.” The new school is situated on a 3.5 hectare site and includes a three-storey teaching block, a sports hall and winter and summer sports pitches. The site will also include space for 94 car parking spaces and 96 cycle spaces. Star Academies is one of the UK’s most successful academy trusts, with many of its schools topping the league tables in terms of progress for 11-16 year olds, and John believes the new school will provide a fantastic facility for the local community. He said: “Creating an enduring legacy is fundamental to our approach at Wates and we believe this school will not only provide great facilities for the local community today, but fantastic opportunities for generations to come.” David Holland, Executive Director of Capital Programmes & Estates at Star Academies, said: “Wates’ proactive approach to delivery and their desire to maintain programme despite the many challenges faced has been very impressive. Staff and pupils are very much looking forward to the handover of the new school next year”
The construction of three existing schools, which will accommodate an additional 990 students in Sandwell, has just been started by Willmott Dixon. The £23.8 million projects include Q3 Academy Langley, West Bromwich Collegiate Academy and Bristnall Hall Academy, all three being able to provide school places from September 2021. Designed in conjunction with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and ADP Architecture, the facilities are being built as part of the authority’s Schools Capital Programme 2019-2021. “We are very excited to be on-site at these three prominent developments within Sandwell – these schemes will provide much-needed school places for the local community throughout its period of rapid expansion,” said Michelle Cotterill, operations director at Willmott Dixon. “We have experience within the education industry and a proven track record of working in live education environments. We are delighted to be providing Sandwell Council with a trio of high-quality education facilities,” Michelle added. The specifications for the development, which have been procured via the Constructing West Midlands Framework, include the following: extending the existing teaching accommodation including providing a theatre, new multi-use hall and completion of all external spaces at Q3 Academy Langley, the completion of a new specialist teaching block, a sports hall and a new sports pitch at West Bromwich Collegiate Academy and the provision of a new stand-alone building comprising of teaching, kitchen and dining facilities at Bristnall Hall Academy.
To coincide with the August opening of Birch, the ‘next-generation escape’ hotel just outside London, international architecture and interiors practice Red Deer have considered how Covid19 challenges the luxury hotel market. Covid19 has created a distance between us for a period of time, but when we come back together in the coming years, Red Deer believes that a new shift in the luxury market will emerge from our time apart. Red Deer consider the term ‘luxury’ as degraded through overuse, and the parameters of what constitutes a ‘luxury hotel’ can be tricky to define. The concept can be specific to each individual guest, based on their own expectation, habits and culture. For Red Deer, luxury comes from the creation of a meaningful emotional connection between the hotel guest and the space they inhabit. Forbes contributor Pamela N. Danziger writes: “Millennials represent only about 32% of spending in the personal luxury market, but by 2025 they are expected to make up 50% of the total market. Some 130% of market growth in the next seven years will be attributed to the Millennial generation.” The luxury industry has often aligned with indulgence and excess rather than sustainability and connections. Quality craftsmanship and experiences may continue to command a premium price tag, however, Millennials are creating a new focus towards sustainability. Both Millennial and Gen Z groups’ expectations from luxury brands are very different from those of Gen X and Baby Boomers who favour traditional wealth values. Social connections and insider knowledge are of more importance to these younger consumers who are more likely to make value-based acquisitions and purchases. Luxury weaves its way through their experiences, free time, travel, community, self-growth and security. For the Birch hotel project, Red Deer deconstructed the meaning of a hotel and pieced it back together to ensure that no element was intrinsic without careful consideration. The obvious need for a bed and bathroom are present, however, more attention was given to the contemporary ‘luxuries’ such as a TV, telephone and smart lighting systems to ascertain their place in a luxury hotel for an increasingly younger generation of guests. As the landscape for luxury hospitality has evolved, the onus is now focused on creating a unique and personalised one-to-one experience for guests. This bespoke experience is a key driver throughout the design of Red Deer’s projects. With Birch, Red Deer felt it crucial to collaborate with local artists and makers to create some unique pieces in the rooms and challenge the idea that uniformity was essential for large batch furniture specification. The most prominent of these pieces is a bespoke valet stand constructed by Jan Hendzel Studio, utilising recycled plastic orbs by sustainable material designer Charlotte Kidger, textured vases by ceramicist Emma Louise Payne and hand-beaten copper bowls by metalsmith Lucie Naujalis. It’s a piece that is intimate and personal, telling a story of three different elements brought together in a single form that is simultaneously light and robust, whilst able to be easily taken apart when required and updated over time. It’s a piece designed to stimulate the guest’s senses and spark their curiosity. Before the pandemic, the global luxury market was predicted to reach €1.3 trillion by 2025. As the hospitality industry enters a challenging period in Q2/3 2020 it is ever-important for the designers and hotel investors to consider the changing market needs and place social connections and insider knowledge alongside premium experiences at the forefront of their business models. Hotels aren’t just bedrooms with smart technology, but memory-making experiences that create value and loyalty. Red Deer believe Birch to be an example of how hospitality projects should be approached, considering a long-term commitment to sustainability within a renovation or new build as a crucial component of architectural design.
National contractor Wates Construction has been awarded a £16m contract to build the new state-of-the-art The Whitehaven Academy School, its second educational facility in the area after completing Campus Whitehaven last year. The development will replace the existing Whitehaven Academy School on Cleator Moor Road, which will be demolished to make way for a new three-storey education facility and sports hall, together with associated parking and landscaping. The main school building will contain a mixture of general teaching spaces for 900 pupils aged 11-16, with a focus on specialist teaching spaces for subjects as science, PE, design and technology. It has also been designed with flexibility and future expansion in mind, with plans to accommodate a 150-pupil sixth form centre in the next five years. Wates is carefully phasing the works and strictly adhering to social distancing guidelines to help minimise any disruption and protect workers and pupils at the school. Government mandated BIM 4D modelling will also be used to foster greater collaborative planning, design co-ordination, and clash detection. Work started on site in late June, with handover of the new school set to take place in early 2022. It will be delivered in partnership with supply chain partners SES Engineering Services, Cubby Construction and Elland Structures. The Whitehaven Academy School has been procured by The Department for Education via its Construction Framework, further bolstering Wates’ already expansive education portfolio in the North West, with the firm also delivering Maghull High School and the Star Academies Eden schools in Blackburn and Manchester. Wates has enjoyed a 12-year relationship with the Department for Education, delivering 22 schools worth a total of £400m and benefitting 20,000 pupils. Dave Saville, business unit director for Wates Construction in the North West, said: “We’re looking forward to delivering another outstanding educational facility to the people of Whitehaven, after completing Campus Whitehaven last year. “After years of collaboration, we fully share the Department of Education and Cumbria Education Trust’s vision for what schools could and should be like – world-class educational spaces and facilities that inspire both pupils and teachers, promoting the learning process at every stage and futureproofed for the next generation. “As with any live school construction site, there will always be challenges when it comes to building close by to current school buildings. However, by making use our offsite facilities and with decades of experience in the education sector, we have the skillset and capability to minimise disruption to the school – which was crucial to us gaining a place on the framework.” Nick Polmear, operations director at Cumbria Education Trust, added: “It’s time to replace the Whitehaven school buildings, with a new, modern design that is fit-for-purpose, provides the best learning environment for students, and can be adapted to accommodate further expansion in time. “This is an important development to get right, which is why we made the decision to work with Wates, one of the most valued suppliers on our Construction Framework bringing years of experience and sector expertise to the table.” The project is the latest for Wates Construction in the North West, with the team currently delivering St. Helens Fire Station, Sands Leisure Centre in Carlisle, and a new leisure hub in Widnes.
Children at Kirkby Church of England Primary school designed posters that were displayed along site hoardings at the 12-acre GMI retail park development project in Kirkby During Covid-19 GMI Construction Group has been working with children from Kirkby Church of England Primary School to showcase posters that the school children have designed to acknowledge the work of the NHS and key workers who have supported us through this time during the pandemic. The school has remained open throughout the pandemic, initially providing emergency childcare for the parents of key workers as well as vulnerable children and more recently it has opened to wider year groups. The children who designed the posters were those whose parents were key workers and on the frontline. The posters have been displayed along the site hoardings that surround the 12-acre retail development GMI is constructing for Knowsley Council in Kirkby Town Centre. Speaking about the initiative GMI Divisional Managing Director Marc Banks said: “Some of the posters designed by the children are fantastic and we are proud to have the chance to display them on the hoardings that surround the Kirkby Retail development. This is a fantastic initiative in support of the parent keyworkers to recognise the fantastic work they have been doing. We have already had some very kind and positive comments from the people of Kirkby having seen the posters and the support they have shown has been fantastic. As a result of the initiative GMI has offered to support the school with any projects it may have coming forward as a show of our thanks to the keyworkers. We would like to thank again and applaud the children, their teachers and keyworkers again for this amazing initiative.” GMI will also be working with Knowsley Council and pupils at the school in the new academic year on a time capsule project as part of the construction of the new retail development. Also commenting Mair Hindmarch, Headteacher at Kirkby Church of England Primary School said: “We’ve got ten children within the school whose parents are keyworkers and they each wanted to recognise how much they appreciate them and are proud of their efforts. The children had seen how other posters had been appearing within the community and wanted to design some of their own to display within the school. When GMI contacted us, we were enormously proud and grateful to have the chance to show these fantastic posters off on such a high-profile development in Kirkby. We would like to express our thanks to GMI and Knowsley Council.” The 94,000 sq. ft Kirkby retail developmentfeatures a new 42,000 sq. ft Morrisons superstore, petrol filling station and retail units including Home Bargains and a drive-thru KFC.
Construction has started on the £3.9m renovation of King Edward VI School in Lichfield, with works being led by Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson for Staffordshire County Council under the Staffordshire Construction framework. This is the second contract secured by G F Tomlinson through the Staffordshire Construction framework for Staffordshire County Council, led by Entrust Property Services – the first being the £5.2m Poppyfields Primary School in Cannock, which was successfully completed last summer within a major housing development in the area. The project involves the design and build of an extension to an existing building and the construction of a new modular building to provide much needed replacement teaching and auxiliary spaces at King Edward VI School. Building on a winning partnership from the successful delivery of the Poppyfields Primary school, G F Tomlinson again appointed Arc Partnership to provide architectural and engineering services for the scheme. Phase one of works at the Lichfield co-educational comprehensive for pupils aged 11 to 18, involves the construction of a new three-storey extension on the site of a former swimming pool, which had been closed for over ten years and was demolished as part of preliminary site-wide enabling works by ENTRUST prior to commencement. The extension will provide replacement teaching and auxiliary spaces, as well as an administration area on the lower ground floor, which will be the location of the school’s new student services area. Completion for this phase is expected in spring 2021. Phase two involves the demolition of existing accommodation and obsolete prefabricated buildings, to be replaced with the construction of a brand new standalone modular structure, providing modern and enhanced science laboratory teaching facilities at the school. Ideal Modular, part of G F Tomlinson’s existing supply chain, has been appointed to deliver the modular element of this project. Works for phase two are expected to be completed in winter 2020. During the course of the construction works, G F Tomlinson is looking to engage with both staff and students of the school. The site management team will perform virtual live site tours for the school to report project progress and allow them to raise any queries they have. Once government guidelines allow it, the contractor also plans to carry out regular site tours and school assemblies, as well as communicating the project’s progress through meetings with the school. Regular newsletters will also be distributed to the school and local residents. Chris Flint, director of G F Tomlinson, said: “We are pleased to be able to commence construction works for our client Staffordshire County Council, particularly in the current climate. The works will maximise space and upgrade the existing buildings at King Edward VI School. These important renovations will optimise teaching spaces and improve the overall educational experience for students and staff. “It has been rewarding to engage with Entrust Property Services again and we look forward to working for them and Staffordshire County Council to deliver this project, whilst continuing to build strong relationships with Arc Partnership and our other local supply chain partners over the course of both phases.” County Councillor Philip White, cabinet member for learning and skills said: “These works are being completed to ensure the site can accommodate an increased demand for pupil places at the school, as a result of new housing in and around the city. Once finished, the work will enable the school to expand by 150 pupils. “We have been planning for this for a while, and construction is taking place over the course of a year to minimise disruption as much as possible. I’m sure pupils and teachers will enjoy using the brand-new accommodation in September 2021.” John Doherty, CEO of Entrust Support Services, said: “We are proud to see works commence at King Edward VI School following ENTRUST’s master planning of a multifaceted brief across a split campus. This is a complex project which we are proudly project managing with our preferred contractor and we look forward to working with G F Tomlinson, Staffordshire County Council and the school to complete it. Once finished, these new teaching spaces will benefit the school and its pupils well into the future.” Jane Rutherford, headteacher at King Edward School said “With additional students joining us each year, this project will provide all our students and staff with access to improved facilities. We are looking forward to seeing the project completed during the coming academic year”. Staffordshire County Council is leading the project, with project management from ENTRUST, G F Tomlinson acting as main contractors, and Arc partnership acting as architect and structural engineer.
Midlands contractor G F Tomlinson is celebrating a triumphant triple win as two of its recent projects received three accolades, including ‘Project of the Year’, at the 2020 RICS Social Impact Awards. RICS (Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors) announced winners of the RICS Social Impact Awards for the East Midlands via a virtual ceremony last week (6 May), hosted by British tv presenters Phil Spencer and Emma Jesson. The inaugural awards recognise the built environment’s positive and transformational contribution to society. The Dorothy Goodman Special Needs School took home the headline award for ‘Project of the Year’, as well as receiving the winning spot for the Education category. Construction to improve facilities at the school was completed by G F Tomlinson in late 2018, and involved the creation of a new specially-equipped school building. The contractor worked collaboratively alongside the school, Hadland Manning Bullock Quantity Surveyors, Grayling Thomas Architects and Ian Harban Consulting Engineers to ensure that the needs of the pupils, staff and the local community remained the focus for the design and delivery of the new building. The specialist school in Hinckley, Leicester caters for 110 pupils aged between 11 and 19 years with a wide range of learning disabilities. On the Dorothy Goodman SEN School’s award, RICS Social Impact Awards head judge for the East Midlands, Sally Walters commented: “As a project dedicated to the support of pupils with special educational needs, the Dorothy Goodman School excels in providing social value not only to the young people who attend, but also the wider community. “The open and honest design approach promotes the facility and assists with the pupil’s development, whilst integrating them throughout their education into the wider world. “The design is innovative and centres on a wide range of special and challenging needs that allow users of the facility to further themselves.” Winner of the Leisure category was the Tower Gardens Community Pavilion, which was completed by G F Tomlinson at the start of 2020, with the project team including global property and construction consultancy Gleeds and Lincoln-based Core Architects. The new £1.6m mixed-use community building was delivered through the Scape Regional Construction framework for Skegness Town Council, and was built to bring new inclusive community facilities to Skegness to transform the town into an inclusive environment and workplace, as well as a vibrant place to visit. On the Tower Gardens award, judge Sally Walters commented: “The Tower Gardens Pavilion has breathed life back into a previously neglected area of Skegness town centre. The new Pavilion will provide easier access to crucial town council services, as well as providing flexible spaces and a café for the community to access all year round. “The enthusiasm from the team behind the project, as well as the support from the local community is impressive and the judges believe this project will have a positive social impact for both residents and visitors to the area.” Chris Flint, director at G F Tomlinson, said: “We’re delighted that two of our projects have been winners at this years’ RICS Social Impact Awards, with one of the accolades including the prestigious ‘Project of the Year’. “With a company that has social value rooted so deeply in our ethos, these awards are testament to what we stand for as a business. We’re proud to be able to deliver projects which have had such a positive impact on the communities we work in, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the results. “Although we couldn’t be there to celebrate this incredible triple win, we’re pleased that the awards could still go ahead virtually. We’d like to thank the project teams for their work on both of these developments, including our supply chain partners. Congratulations everyone, this is well deserved.”
Milton Keynes Council has selected a contractor to take forward plans for a new £29 million school in Wavendon. Morgan Sindall Construction has been named as preferred bidder to build a new 1,530 place school under a pre-construction services agreement. Located at Glebe Farm, this ‘all-through’ school will be open to pupils aged five to 16 and will also include a nursery with the equivalent of 39 full time places. Development of the school will be located on a 95,000 square metre site off Burney Drive, where hundreds of new houses have been built. The development is being funded from a combination of Basic Need Government funding, Section 106 grant funding and Milton Keynes Council borrowing. The investment is part of a drive to support the growing population in Milton Keynes, which is expected to rise by 40,000 to almost 300,000 by 2026. David Rowsell, Northern Home Counties area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “This development marks a significant investment in the education provisions available to families in south east Milton Keynes and is a testament to the council’s ambition to develop its network of high quality schools across the area. “Glebe Farm’s new school will be transformational for the community, providing hundreds of children with a school building that they can call home throughout their journey in full-time education. “Morgan Sindall Construction is incredibly proud to have been appointed as preferred bidder for this project by Milton Keynes Council and we’re looking forward to working with our Client closely with our project partners as the first phase of delivery gets underway. As a company, we are keen to continue to further develop our existing relationship with Milton Keynes having successfully collaborated with them in recent years. We have a wealth of experience in delivering major education projects and we’re thrilled to be able to offer our specialist expertise to support the council’s vision for the future of Glebe Farm.” Councillor Zoe Nolan, Cabinet Member for Children and Families added: “This school will provide places for many children throughout their full-time education. They will not have to make the transition from primary into secondary school. They will be able to stay put and that will help them to focus on doing their best. We are delighted that the design process will be underway soon and look forward to sharing those plans. As Milton Keynes continues to grow, we will continue to invest in and prioritise our network of high quality schools.”
