Ground has been broken onsite at Freemantles School in Surrey, as Morgan Sindall Construction begins work to boost the region’s special educational needs (SEN) provision
Surrey County Council (SCC) appointed the tier one contractor to deliver the school expansion project in Woking, Surrey, earlier this year as part of the Southern Construction Framework (SCF).
The project will see Morgan Sindall Construction’s Southern Home Counties business create a new two-storey SEND school building on the school’s site.
When complete, the new facility will enable Freemantles School to have a separate Secondary and further education building. It will allow the school to continue with their expansion to 270 places with two forms of entry for students aged 4-19 years old. This will significantly help the council meet a growing demand for SEN student places in the county.
The building now under construction will link to the pre-existing school and replace three temporary classroom blocks which are currently being used by both secondary and further education pupils.
The project also includes creating a fenced multi use games arena (MUGA) and two small, enclosed playing fields.
Demand for SEN places is extremely high across Surrey, with 10,941 children from the region having an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) at the end of 2020 – a 49 per cent increase in just four years. EHCPs identify educational, health and social needs for children and young people aged 0 to 25 years who need more support than their school or other setting can provide.
Morgan Sindall Construction has a strong track record of delivering specialist state-of-the-art educational facilities alongside Surrey County Council. Recently, this partnership has seen the completion of the Westvale Park Primary Academy and is currently in the process of delivering Oakwood School, both of which are located in Horley.
Guy Hannell, Southern Home Counties area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “Given our office’s location in Redhill, the Southern Home Counties team is deeply embedded within the local community and is aware first hand of the educational challenges facing our region.
“It is a pleasure to be playing an active role in delivering these much-needed SEN school places for Woking and the surrounding Surrey area. The team is extremely experienced in delivering specialist facilities like this and we’re looking forward to working closely with Surrey County Council to make an important and highly positive change for the pupils of Freemantles School.”
Liz Mills, Director of Education and Lifelong Learning at Surrey County Council, said: “I am delighted that we have broken ground on this exciting expansion, as the project directly supports Surrey County Council’s strategic commitments and priorities of keeping children rooted in their local communities, ensuring that no child in Surrey is left behind. “
Justin Price, Executive Headteacher at Freemantles School, said: “We are exceptionally excited to see this phase of the project getting underway. The school has been expanding for a number of years and the new facilities that this fabulous new building will offer will ensure that we can continue to provide an excellent specialist educational offer to more children and young people into the future.”
As part of Morgan Sindall Construction’s Intelligent Solutions ethos, the business will be working with Streif to employ composite timber cassettes manufactures offsite as part of the project. This will reduce the building’s carbon output and help secure the long-term sustainable future of the development. The Intelligent Solutions approach explores creative approaches to construction challenges such as utilising innovative carbon reduction tools and modern methods of construction.