Work underway at £2.8m West Yorkshire primary school development

Construction work is now underway on the £2.8m development of a 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 multi-million pound project will see Spatial Initiative demolish the existing school and completely rebuild a new primary academy with brand 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 academy is part of the Department for Education’s £4.4bn Priority School Building Programme, which is rebuilding and refurbishing school buildings across the UK deemed to be most in need of renovation.

A ground-breaking ceremony took place to mark the start of the construction works. Completion is expected in summer 2019, in time to welcome staff and pupils for the new academic year.

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, added: “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.”

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.