England rugby legend opens Birmingham Kings Centre school

Rugby legend Lawrence Dallaglio has officially opened the newly-refurbished City of Birmingham School Kings Centre pupil referral unit, Erdington, following completion of a programme of works to modernise the school, carried out by Morgan Sindall Construction.

The retired England captain also used the occasion to announce that his nationwide Rugby Works initiative – which aims to support teenagers outside of the mainstream school system, into sustained education, employment or training – was partnering with the City of Birmingham School across all of its eight specialised teaching centres.

The City of Birmingham School supports pupils across the city region who have a range of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.

Working for Birmingham City Council, through the Constructing West Midlands (CWM) framework, Morgan Sindall Construction has successfully delivered £1.8 million worth of refurbishment works to the Kings Centre. The project was managed in collaboration with the council’s design and contract delivery partner, Acivico.

Work included the renovation of the internal areas, fitting out the food technology and design technology rooms and reconfiguration of the existing floor layout to form a gym area.

The main contractor also renovated the tiled roof and carried out extensive masonry repairs to the existing façade.

Richard Fielding, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “Smaller municipal infrastructure projects may not grab the headlines, or lend themselves to glossy images, but they’re of critical importance to the local people who come to depend on the vital public services that they facilitate.
“We’re committed to ensuring that all of our construction projects deliver wide-reaching social value to the communities in which we work, and have routed more than half a billion pounds through local suppliers during our time on the CWM framework.
“Throughout this refurbishment, the site team has organised several local initiatives, including the donation of a blood pressure monitor to Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield, and a charity football day at St Andrew’s Stadium which the pupils loved.
“Everyone involved with the project can be rightly proud of the legacy they’ve left; both in terms of the finished building, and the meaningful community engagement throughout.”

Steve Howell, headteacher at City of Birmingham School, said: “Today marks two important milestones for our school: the launch of the partnership with Rugby Works, and the official opening of the newly-refurbished 'wing' of one of our Centres. This is a strategic step towards providing pupils with outstanding facilities and the widest curriculum offer available. Thanks to Birmingham City Council and Morgan Sindall Construction for their work on the project.”

Jaswinder Didially, Head of Education Infrastructure at Birmingham City Council, added: “Morgan Sindall has delivered a number of school buildings as part of our additional places programme. The refurbishment of Kings Centre has been planned to ensure the education of some of our most vulnerable and hard to reach pupils is not disrupted unduly.
“We are also impressed with their adherence to the Birmingham Business Charter for Social Responsibility which not only benefits the school but also has a positive impact on the local community.”

The CWM framework provides public sector bodies throughout the West Midlands with a vehicle for the efficient procurement of building and construction works. Over the last six years Morgan Sindall Construction, in a consortium arrangement with its sister company Lovell, has delivered works on Lot 7 of the framework, which covers major capital projects with a value in excess of £500,000. These projects have resulted in more than 7,000 weeks of training being delivered and over £560 million being invested in local communities and suppliers.

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