Wates Construction has been awarded a £16m contract to build Whitehaven Academy School’s second educational facility
The new facility will replace the existing Whitehaven Academy School, which will be demolished and replaced with a new three-storey education facility and sports hall, together with parking and landscaping.
Wates completed Whitehaven Academy School’s campus last year.
The main school building will contain teaching spaces for 900 pupils, with a focus on specialist teaching spaces for subjects as science, PE, design and technology. It has also been designed with flexibility and future expansion in mind, with plans to accommodate a 150-pupil sixth form centre in the next five years.
Wates is carefully phasing the works and strictly adhering to social distancing guidelines to help minimise any disruption and protect workers and pupils at the school.
Using BIM for collaborative planning
Government-mandated BIM 4D modelling will also be used to foster greater collaborative planning, design co-ordination, and clash detection.
Work on the new facility started in late June, with handover of the new school set to take place in early 2022.
It will be delivered in partnership with supply chain partners SES Engineering Services, Cubby Construction and Elland Structures.
The Whitehaven Academy School has been procured by The Department for Education via its Construction Framework.
Business unit director for Wates Construction, Dave Saville, said: “We’re looking forward to delivering another outstanding educational facility to the people of Whitehaven, after completing Campus Whitehaven last year.
“After years of collaboration, we fully share the Department of Education and Cumbria Education Trust’s vision for what schools could and should be like – world-class educational spaces and facilities that inspire both pupils and teachers, promoting the learning process at every stage and futureproofed for the next generation.
“As with any live school construction site, there will always be challenges when it comes to building close by to current school buildings.
“However, by making use our offsite facilities and with decades of experience in the education sector, we have the skillset and capability to minimise disruption to the school – which was crucial to us gaining a place on the framework.”
