Manchester's first green roof at a secondary school arrived at St Peter’' RC High School in Gorton this week.

The sedum roof is part of a £3.1 million project that will see a new block built at the Kirkmanshulme Lane school, with a 600 sq metres green roof. Part of the existing school building will also be refurbished.

The green roof was grown in Norfolk, and then harvested, transported and installed at the school within 24 hours to ensure freshness. It is a soil-less, ultra light, slow growing grass that is low maintenance, acts as a waterproofing system and reduces energy use and CO2 emissions.

Instead of soil, the base layer of the roof is made up of recycled crushed brick and clay shale with organic pine bark - this reduces the weight of the roof.

Once established, sedum forms a tightly knit carpet which allows little room for the development of weeds and can be left largely unattended. It does not become overgrown, nor does it require regular cutting or pruning. It is also wind, frost and drought resistant.

Maintenance of the roof is limited to a once a year application of fertiliser.

The improvements at the Gorton school, funded through the Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF), will allow the 900-place Kirkmanshulme Lane school to extend its teaching provision, including new facilities for Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils and spaces for extended community use.

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St Peter's will now be one of three Manchester high schools to have specialist resourced mainstream provision with places for up to 10 young people with a specific language impairment (SLI) and/or autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). It will also have up to five additional places for pupils with a physical disability.

Headteacher, John McNerney, said: "We were the first secondary school in Manchester to use a timber frame design for our new block and so it seems fitting that we are also paving the way with a green roof. We're all really excited about the improvements at the school which will provide some fabulous new facilities for both pupils and the community as a whole."

The building work includes eight new classrooms, an office, IT room, a community room, a lift to improve disabled access and refurbishment of part of the main school building.

The bespoke amenities for SLI and ASD pupils will include teaching areas for small group work, a room for speech and language therapy, as well as facilities for staff development and training. There will also be a hygiene suite and a physiotherapy room.

In addition to improvements to the building, there will also be an additional investment of £1.4m in the school's ICT provision. This will enable pupils to work on the school's computer system from home and give parents better access to information about their child's progress.

A courtyard will be created between the new block and existing school and will contain a global signpost, reflecting the 50 plus nationalities that make up the school population.

Pupils took part in design workshops and created a mural to be displayed on a side elevation at the Pink Bank Lane entrance.

The investment at St Peter's is part of city-wide proposals to improve and transform education and learning for pupils with SEN by providing a continuum of provision which gives better choice and opportunity for young people, their parents and families.

Councillor Sheila Newman, Manchester City Council's Executive Member Children's Services, said: " Manchester 's BSF programme represents a step change in the quality of the facilities we are providing for our young people and our communities. Our goal is to give children and young people a positive start in life with the skills and qualifications to become active citizens today and in the future."

Work is due to be completed at the school by February 2011.

The contractors on the project are F Parkinson Ltd, the architects Ellis Williams Architects and the green roof is from Bauder.

(CD/GK)