Member Article

New term. New buildings. New methods of construction.

Morgan Sindall Construction’s Essex business has successfully delivered two new school projects for Essex County Council at the start of this academic year, to meet a high demand for student places across the county.

St Luke’s Park Primary School and Ormiston Rivers Academy were both procured through the Essex Construction Framework 2 (ECF2), which was set up by Essex County Council to deliver a £400 million construction programme of mainly school projects across the region.

The carbon-neutral in operation extension project Ormiston Rivers Academy will provide five new classrooms in a single-storey 4740 sq ft extension. Thanks to this facility, the school will be able to accommodate 150 extra pupils with new classrooms, unisex toilets and a staff group room. The development also included a 144 m sq multi-use play area (MUPA) on the academy’s site.

St Luke’s Park Primary School is built on the former Runwell Hospital site and provides 210 primary and 56 nursery places for families in the new 575-home St Luke’s Development.

Morgan Sindall Construction were appointed for the Ormiston Rivers Academy project through a turnkey contract, making them responsible for the design and construction of both new academy’s, meaning the programme could be delivered quickly ahead of the new academic year.

As part of Morgan Sindall Construction’s commitment to Intelligent Solutions and reducing its environmental impact, it has utilised modern methods of construction (MMC) and offsite manufacturing at Ormiston Rivers Academy, including the use of a SIPs (Structurally-Insulated Panels) structure, bolstering the extension’s energy efficiency credentials.

Operationally, this design will secure the academy’s Net Zero in operation status as well as an A+ EPC rating. Other key examples of innovative sustainable technology that will be utilised include the installation of energy efficient lights controlled by Bluetooth and 76 solar panels.

The extension at Ormiston Rivers Academy and the new St Luke’s Park Primary School are the latest in a long line of school projects that Morgan Sindall Construction has delivered for Essex County Council, including Sweyne Park School in Rayleigh, Clacton County High School in Clacton-on-Sea, and Colne Community School & College in Brightlingsea.

Ormiston Rivers Academy and St Luke’s Park Primary School are two of the first projects to be completed in the region since Andrew Harper-Rowe was appointed as area director at Morgan Sindall Construction’s Essex business.

He said: “As a business that’s rooted in the local area, Morgan Sindall Construction understands that new school projects have a significant impact on the people working, living and studying in Essex. This is why we’re proud to be helping to grow Ormiston Rivers Academy in a manner that’s not only highly sustainable, but which will enable it to provide a high-quality learning environment for the community.

“In fact, Ormiston Rivers Academy is the latest example of the state-of-the-art education facilities that we’ve been developing in the region alongside Essex County Council. Thanks to this close collaboration, Essex now has a number of new educational environments designed to engage and inspire the county’s future generations.”

Cllr Tony Ball, Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability at Essex County Council, said: “Ensuring every child in Essex has access to an excellent education is at the heart of our Everyone’s Essex strategy and at the forefront of our vision for levelling up the county. Both of these new school facilities will help meet the educational needs of their local communities.

“These are just two examples of how we’re investing in school sites across Essex, helping ensure children across the county have access to the modern and high-quality learning environments to allow them to thrive, whilst also playing a part in reducing the carbon emissions caused by school buildings.”

Angela Mahoney, Finance and Business Director at Ormiston Rivers Academy, said: “Morgan Sindall Construction has built a new block to be proud of. This is our first net zero building, so not only fits our need to expand but also compliments are ongoing drive to reduce our carbon footprint.

“The level of detail and quality was impeccable, the team were informative but unobtrusive throughout the whole project. Any issue was met with a range of solutions to ensure the extremely tight timeframe was adhered to. We took the building two weeks ahead of schedule! The new facility is now being enjoyed by staff & students alike.”

Nicholas Rudman, Headteacher at St Luke’s Primary School, said: “We are very pleased with our new school, which serves the needs of our pupils and the local community extremely well.

Nathan Vince, Principal Architectural Designer at Concertus, said: “St Luke’s Park Primary School has been designed to fit in with the surrounding residential area and compliments the neighbouring buildings. The external appearance, and use of different materials, helps identify each area of the school. We are honoured to have been part of delivering this new school for Morgan Sindall Construction, Essex County Council, and the local community of Runwell. We look forward to working in collaboration with Morgan Sindall on future projects in both the East of England and East Midlands”.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Robson .