Spatial Initiative (Initiative) – the joint venture of property services group Styles&Wood and offsite construction specialists Extraspace Solutions – has begun craning in the first of 38 modular units at Highcliffe School. It’s the first school to be built under the £95m Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Component Primary Block framework.
The JV is delivering the £3.3m project at the school in Birstall, Leicester, rebuilding the 1,228m2 junior block using an off-site, modular approach. The project comprises the delivery of the modular units in addition to the internal fit-out, furniture and external works. Completion is scheduled for October 2018.
Highcliffe is the first project to be allocated under the four-year primary block framework, which will use modular construction to replace buildings at 16 primary schools across the country. The firm is currently finalising the planning and design phases of two other projects – Abbey Infant School in Smethwick and Pound Hill Junior School in Crawley.
Sarah Morton, framework director at Initiative, said: “This project marks both the first step in a four-year investment programme to use modular construction to improve primary schools across the country, and the first scheme to be delivered by our joint venture company.
“Offsite construction is particularly beneficial in the education sector, where work has been traditionally constrained by term times, and has the potential to half the average delivery time. By offering expertise in complex project management and offsite modular build, we can provide an efficient model that ensures developments run smoothly with minimal disruption.”
Initiative was set up to combine Styles&Wood’s expertise in project delivery and fast-track fit out with Extraspace Solution’s knowledge and experience of offsite modular construction.
In addition to the ESFA’s Primary Block framework, the partnership was also appointed to eight lots on the ESFA Contractors Framework in November 2017 for delivery of the ESFA’s £4.4bn Priority School Building Programme and it secured a place on its Secondary Block Framework in July.
