ISG is starting work on a major new education development in Bishop Stortford for Hertfordshire County Council.

The £32 million Avanti Grange Secondary School will provide 1,200 pupil places and serve the new Stortford Fields and St Michael's Hurst communities, across a large 11.4-hectare site that straddles either side of the A120.

The scheme, procured via the Pagabo capital works framework, sees ISG construct a contemporary-designed, two-storey concrete frame structure with brick façade. The southern zone of the split-site development features the main school campus, which has a linear form and incorporates a central full-height glazed spine to link classroom, break out, and communal spaces.

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The school boasts a large sports hall and a floodlit multi use games area (MUGA), alongside car parking and drop off areas. A large attenuation swale, or pond structure, will be formed to provide a natural drainage solution and to enhance biodiversity at the site. A roof-mounted photo voltaic array will provide the school with emission free energy, alongside a range of other measures, including high-specification building materials and triple glazed windows to reduce the building's environmental impact.

To access the northern campus zone, ISG will construct a new 30m span steel pedestrian link bridge across the A120. The northern site will accommodate five grass sports pitches across three large terraced areas. A carefully planned cut and fill exercise to level the undulating terrain sees all material retained on site and used to form the terraces for the new pitches.