Kier and Telford & Wrekin Council have kick-started the region's £200 million Borough Towns Initiative - Sports and Learning Communities scheme with the signing of the contract to build the Abraham Darby Sports and Learning Community.

The Abraham Darby Academy is the first secondary school in Telford & Wrekin to be rebuilt as a sports and learning community and will see the existing Abraham Darby Academy and Woodlands Primary School being demolished and redeveloped to create a £35 million modern educational facility on the same site.

The signing of the Abraham Darby contract marks the formal start of work on the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project which will see Kier Moss, part of the regional construction division of the Kier Group, carrying out the works to replace existing outdated secondary schools and some primary schools in the area with state-of-the-art learning environments that incorporate sporting and community facilities. The £35 million works at Abraham Darby will not just create an academy, but provide an academy for the Haberdashers, a primary school and a new leisure centre for use by the schools and the public.


Telford & Wrekin Council's cabinet member for children and young people, Cllr Stephen Burrell, said: "This is a major step forward in our ambitious vision to transform the borough’s educational estate while at the same time providing sporting, leisure and health facilities for the community.

"We are working very closely with Kier and we are looking forward to work starting on the Abraham Darby site. It will be fantastic to see our vision starting to become reality and this will be a wonderful community facility."

(CD)