A groundbreaking ceremony has been held to mark the beginning of construction on a new £5.3 million primary school in Derby.

Spencer Highfields Academy on Tutbury Avenue in Littleover will provide 210 primary and 26 nursery places. It will comprise of a single-storey 15,510 square foot main building with even general purpose classrooms, a reception, nursery and a double storey main hall.

External facilities include a soft play area, a large playing field, and a MUGA pitch. Students will also benefit from a visitors' garden and allotment area. There will also be a parking area and cycle storage facilities.

Designed by Lungfish Architects, the new development is using offsite modular construction methods. Modular building allows for greater time efficiency within the build programme, alongside considerably decreased carbon emissions. Offsite work has already commenced on forty-five pre-fabricated modules at subcontractor Eco Modular's factory in Hull. These will then be delivered to site and completed in time for the new academic year.

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Main contractor Morgan Sindall Construction was joined by representatives from Derbyshire County Council, alongside members of the Spencer Academy Trust and Lungfish Architects at the recent groundbreaking ceremony.

Rob Cant, Framework Director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: "Modular building is proving incredibly popular in the education sector – and with good reason. Advances in technology mean that modern methods of construction can deliver high-quality 21st century learning environments within constrained time scales and with minimal disruption to day-to-day school life.

"Offsite construction results in reduced subcontractor traffic, and embodied carbon, while the expandable nature of the design facilitates easy expansion should population growth necessitate it in future.

"We're naturally very pleased to be working with Lungfish Architects on another key education project for Derby; and to be delivering it through Scape Group’s Regional Construction framework (RCF), which we celebrate two years on next month."

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Young People Councillor Alex Dale added: "We're very pleased to be working in partnership on this exciting project and making the best use of our resources to provide a high-quality modern school for local children and for use by the wider community.


"We approved the requirement for a new school to respond to the need for more school places due to significant housing developments in the area and also to provide much-needed nursery provision.


"We were pleased to be involved in its design and it is our first whole school modular build – a building innovation recommended by the Department for Education – which makes it quick, efficient and cost-effective and also reduces construction disruption for local residents."

Work is expected to be complete on the project by September 2020.

Spencer Highfields Academy will be governed by the trust, which runs primary, secondary and sixth form provisions across the East Midlands.

(CM/MH)