School Work gets underway on new £3m sports hall
WORK on building a new £3 million state-of-the art sports facility at Backwell School has begun.
The multi-million-pound project will see the creation of a four-court sports hall, fitness suite and changing rooms on the site of the former school tennis courts.
The development, stretching over 1,770 square metres, will also include a new teaching block with five classrooms, including three science laboratories and a staff office.
The development has been funded through the Lighthouse Schools Partnership and a Priority School Building Programme grant.
The scheme was approved by North Somerset Council planners in June.
Work has now begun with the project due to be completed in May 2021.
It is hoped the new facility will provide better sporting opportunities for students as well as providing more space for learning.
Education construction specialist Lancashire based Collinson Construction will be in charge of the project.
The firm has also been responsible for the creation of a new sports facility at Durrington High School in Worthing, West Sussex, a £2.6m multi-use sports hall at Thorpe House School, as well as a new £2.1m arts and music centre for Morecambe Bay Academy.
The new facility will also be available for use by the local community.
Rob Duxbury, managing director at Collinson Construction, said: “We’ve had an extremely busy year creating inspiring new sports spaces for education providers, but we’ve seen a sharp rise in demand for additional teaching space in response to the current pandemic too.
“We’re proud to be working closely with Backwell School to deliver this innovative new facility that will not only help shape the sporting skills of students, but also benefit the wider community by encouraging them to take part in more physical exercise.”
Backwell School head teacher Jon Nunes said: “We are very excited to see the construction beginning on our new building. It is currently a very challenging time for schools and to see the structure come together and the building take shape is providing us all with a positive focus for the future of our school.
“A project of such scale on a large busy school site like ours can be logistically challenging, however Collinson Construction has managed this incredibly well.
“Our new building will provide state of the art facilities for our students and the local community.
“We will have a new fully sized sports hall and a new teaching block with five classrooms, included three science laboratories.
“We look forward with great anticipation to using our new curriculum spaces in 2021.”