Member Article

Morgan Sindall breaks ground at £6.1m Bedfordshire School

Morgan Sindall, the construction and infrastructure company, has broken ground at a £6.1million project to design and build Lower Wilbury Farm School, a new two form-entry school in Fairfield, Central Bedfordshire.

The single-storey lower school is being delivered for developers Lochailort Fairfield Ltd and Central Bedfordshire Council and will accommodate 300 pupils. The building will include ten classrooms, offices, a kitchen and a library. It will also feature a nursery provision, which will accommodate an additional 30 children aged between three and four.

The project team will also deliver a 180 sq.m main hall with flexibility to be used by the local community outside of school hours.

Morgan Sindall will also complete some external works including an amphitheatre style seating area, Multi Use Games Area (MUGA), play area for nursery children and a Football Association-spec sports pitch that will be shared between the school and local community.

The school is part of a wider residential and mixed-use development to accommodate the growing local community.

Hugo Haig, Director at Lochailort Fairfield Ltd, said: “We were delighted to work so closely with both the planning department at Central Bedfordshire Council as well as the education authority and to have been able to provide a carefully designed state-of-the-art two-form entry school that reflects the vernacular of Fairfield which will also provide much needed primary school spaces. It is a great example of how private enterprise can work with local authorities to the benefit of the community.”

Councillor Steven Dixon, Executive Member for Education and Skills at Central Bedfordshire Council, said: “I am delighted that work has begun on Lower Wilbury Farm School and I look forward to revisiting to see how things are progressing. I appreciate that things have taken a bit longer than anticipated to get started but we wanted to make sure that the Fairfield Park Lower School community and other Fairfield residents were happy with the plans before any building work began.

“Just like the current school here, I am sure that it will be a tremendous and greatly valued addition to the community when work is completed.”

Neil Franklin, area director at Morgan Sindall, said: “School surroundings should reflect the adaptable and exciting nature of education and the unique outdoor learning facilities at Lower Wilbury Farm School will certainly adhere to that concept.

“We’re proud to have been appointed to deliver this scheme and we’re looking forward to working closely with Lochailort Fairfield Ltd, Central Bedfordshire Council and the local community to provide a high quality learning environment for future generations in Bedfordshire.”

Morgan Sindall has developed an impressive roster of education projects across the East of England and was recently appointed to carry out a £3.8million scheme to expand Etonbury Academy in Central Bedfordshire. The project for Bedfordshire East School’s Trust (BEST) is part of Central Bedfordshire Council’s school places programme and follows the successful completion of a £6.8million expansion that the firm delivered at the school last year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Maria Carr .