A ground-breaking ceremony has celebrated the start of construction at a new primary school in Wakefield.
Spatial Initiative – the joint venture of Styles&Wood and Extraspace Solutions – is beginning construction of England Lane Academy in Knottingley, part of Delta Academies Trust.
The £2.8m project will see Initiative completely rebuild the primary academy including new classrooms, hall, support areas and external play spaces. The new school buildings will accommodate 210 pupils, and will also incorporate a 26-place nursery within the single-storey building.
The new academy is part of the Department for Education’s £4.4billion Priority School Building Programme, which is rebuilding and refurbishing school buildings across the UK deemed to be most in need of renovation.
Completion is expected in summer 2019, in time to welcome staff and pupils for the new academic year.
Speaking at the ceremony, David Irving, associate executive principal for England Lane, said: “It’s very exciting for everyone here to see the new academy becoming a reality. The ground-breaking event celebrates the start of the building process, and pupils and staff are looking forward to seeing it take shape over the coming weeks and months.
“We’re grateful to everybody involved and look forward to teaching our children in a new, state-of-the-art school.”
Sarah Morton, framework director at Initiative, said: “We’re very excited to put the first spade in the ground at England Lane. This development forms part of an important series of projects which will provide primary schools across the country with the best possible learning facilities..
“We know how important it is to minimise disruption and delivery time on school builds to help keep academic timetables running smoothly. Our work at England Lane has been carefully planned to allow pupils to access their new facilities as quickly as possible.”
The existing school will be demolished on the opening of the new building.
Spatial Initiative was formed to bring together Styles&Wood’s skills in pre-construction, fit-out and project delivery with Extraspace Solutions’ innovation in modern methods of construction.
Styles&Wood is part of Extentia Group – 11 specialist businesses offering services across the full lifecycle of real estate assets – from design, project management and delivery, to optimisation, FF&E solutions and facilities management.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s £4.4 billion Priority School Building Programme is rebuilding or refurbishing those school buildings in the very worst condition across the country. There are two phases of the programme, covering a total of 537 schools.
The majority of the 260 schools in the first phase of the programme were opened in their new or refurbished buildings by the end of 2017, two years earlier than originally planned. Under the second phase of the programme, PSBP2, the ESFA plans to have all schools open in their new/refurbished buildings by the end of 2021.
Photo credit: Pete Hill Photography
