Handover of £19.4 million school campus in Wolverhampton
Morgan Sindall Construction has successfully handed over a £19.4 million 53,000 sq ft campus for the Khalsa Academy; a free secondary school governed by the Khalsa Academies Trust in Wolverhampton.
To mark the occasion the school and the Trust arranged an opening ceremony that was attended by over 300 parents, community members, local business and local councillors. The ceremony consisted of prayers, blessings, displays of martial arts and tours of the brand new facilities.
The state-of-the-art campus, located on the former Tarmac Headquarters on Millfields Road, will provide 840 pupils with a cutting-edge learning environment, which also features impressive sports facilities and an auditorium to support an array of extra curriculum activities.
Morgan Sindall Construction was appointed by Education and Funding Agency (EFA) through the Constructing West Midlands (CWM) Framework to carry out a full refurbishment of an existing four storey building and single storey canteen site. The old units have been overhauled to provide an 8,800 square foot modern dining area and teaching spaces for cookery and music classes.
The works also included treatment of an existing mine shaft and shallow mine workings, as well as associated external works such as road and car parking re-modelling. The completed school features a separate 3,200 square foot sports hall built on a portal steel frame and an all-weather 3G pitch, along with tennis and basketball courts.
The academy, which opened in 2015, had been operating from a temporary base at Parkfield High School, on Wolverhampton Road East.
The new campus sits on the same site as Wolverhampton Vocational Training Centre; the first free UK school to offer vocational training to students with special educational needs and disabilities, which Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure successfully delivered last year.
Richard Fielding, Morgan Sindall Construction’s area director in the Midlands, said: “The regeneration of this vacant industrial site into a state-of-the-art campus is the result of a focused and collaborative effort between Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure, the EFA and the Khalsa Academies Trust.
“I’d like to congratulate each stakeholder for delivering a site that will provide long term benefits to the local community, and give particular thanks to senior site manager Peter Tombs, who was recognised with an Outstanding Achievement and Service award from the Khalsa Academies Trust.”
Nick Singh Kandola, CEO, Khalsa Academies Trust said, “We have been very impressed by the quality and delivery of the school by Morgan Sindall. It has been a pleasure to work with the local team who have delivered for us.”
Anita Kaur Notta, Principal, The Khalsa Academy Wolverhampton said, “We are grateful for the support from the EFA and Morgan Sindall, which has resulted in excellent teaching and learning facilities for our staff and students.”
The Constructing West Midlands Framework is the preferred delivery mechanism for capital building, repair and maintenance works for public sector organisations throughout the West Midlands.
Morgan Sindall Construction is in a consortium arrangement with its sister company Lovell on the multi-contractor framework. The consortium, known as Community Solutions, had its role on Lot 7 of the framework extended in September last year. Lot 7 covers major capital projects with a value in excess of £500,000, and has so far yielded projects to the value of over £71 million since its inception.
Morgan Sindall Construction’s project partners included Project and Cost Manager Jacobs, Glancy Nicholls Architects, CWA Consulting Engineers, Couch Perry & Wilkes, SRL Technical Services Limited and HRS Services Ltd.
- For more information about this news release please contact Ellie Riddy or Jonathan Daly at Influential on 0161 804 1400 or email riddy@thisisinfluential.com