Morgan Sindall to replace fire-destroyed school in 45 weeks

Morgan Sindall Construction has been appointed to build a new primary school in just 45 weeks to replace a facility that was destroyed by fire last year.

Morgan Sindall won the £6.9m modular project to rebuild Ravensdale Infant and Nursery School for Derby City Council through the Scape Construction framework.

Demolition work started early this year, after the existing school was destroyed in October 2020 in a fire. The new three-form-entry school, designed by Lungfish Architects will provide space for 270 pupils as well as a 26-place nursery.

All construction work is expected to be finished within 45 weeks, in time for students to move in after next year’s summer half term break.

The whole school will arrive on site in 58 modules before being assembled.

Prior to the work at the new school starting, Morgan Sindall Construction helped provide efficient replacement teaching areas by moving a temporary modular school from the nearby Rosecliffe Spencer Academy in Nottinghamshire, where it was no longer required. This allowed the school’s nursery pupils and one year group to return to the Ravensdale Infant School site at Easter.

The remaining year groups are temporarily housed at three other nearby schools that Morgan Sindall Construction recently built, which were also procured through Scape Construction for both Derbyshire County Council and Derby City Council, in partnership with Lungfish Architects.

Rob Cant, framework director at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “We’re delighted to have been able to help support the families, teachers and the local people that were affected by the loss of their local infant school last year. Sites like this play an important role in any area, as they are vital not only for early years education but also as local community hubs – this made it imperative that we found some inventive solutions to get the school up and running as quickly as possible.

“Thanks to our existing work at other nearby schools and relationships with key stakeholders we were able to quickly move temporary teaching space to the site, helping to take some of the pressure off the local school network. The innovative and modular nature of the new building ensures that we can get the whole school up and running again in less than a year.”

Mark Robinson, group chief executive at Scape, said: “The shared determination between Derby City Council, Morgan Sindall Construction, Lungfish Architects and Arc Partnership to rebuild Ravensdale Infant and Nursery School, is nothing short of remarkable. And, at Scape, we’re proud to be able to help facilitate the efficient collaboration and ensure that the new school progresses quickly to minimise the disruption to pupils and their education.

“I am positive that the new school building will be somewhere really special for the children and the school community to overcome and rebuild.”