Morgan Sindall Construction completes five weeks early on £18 million Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy, Birmingham

Morgan Sindall Construction has completed a new £18 million secondary school in Small Heath, Birmingham, five weeks ahead of schedule for Birmingham City Council.

Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy in Birmingham was procured through Constructing West Midlands - a fully OJEU compliant framework which has a 16-year track record in the delivery of publicly funded projects and is managed by multi-disciplinary construction consultancy, Acivico.

Morgan Sindall Construction has been an approved contractor partner for Constructing West Midlands for the last eight years during which time it has delivered 32 education schemes for the framework worth a combined total of £173 million.

Small Heath is one of Birmingham’s inner-city wards and the council commissioned the scheme due to the high demand for student places in the past two years. The new build has delivered 600 additional school-places for the region.

The new academy is being operated by Star Academies, a mixed Multi-Academy Trust that runs a diverse network of primary and secondary schools including Eden Boys’ Leadership Academy, Birmingham East, Eden Boys’ School, Birmingham, Small Heath Leadership Academy, Starbank School, The Olive School, Birmingham and The Olive School, Small Heath.

Working in close collaboration with the Trust, Morgan Sindall Construction tailored the school’s design for Star Academies’ strict standards and branding requirements to meet specifications on everything from floor finishing to paint colour. Acivico project managed the scheme on behalf of Birmingham City Council and provided cost management, clerk of works and CDM services for the project.

Morgan Sindall Construction made use of its MySchool concept for the school – a design solution which offers the speed and cost-effectiveness of a pre-designed model, but with scope to add bespoke, flexible elements. The new build’s early completion date comes despite disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic and is thanks to the efficiency of MySchool as well as support from the project’s supply chain.

Features of the new school building

Located on Hob Moor Road, the new school’s 48,000 square foot campus includes a three-storey main building which houses five specialist laboratories, three IT classrooms as well as 15 general teaching rooms.

External features include a sports hall as well as a sports and grass pitch, and a new Learning Resource Centre which will provide library space. A turning circle has been built to improve access into the school. There is also a new car park with 40 spaces including three accessible spaces, one minibus parking space, seven drop-off/pick-up spaces and four electric vehicle charging spaces.

Pupils and staff will also have access to a reflection hall for prayer, and an ablutions room. As part of the Morgan Sindall Construction legacy, the project team worked with the school to create artwork for the reflection hall.

Designs for the school demonstrate significant eco-friendly investment with all classrooms fitted with low energy LED lights. Natural Ventilation and Heat Recycling (NVHR) units have also been installed. These are designed to produce an enhanced natural ventilation strategy and remove the need for energy-intensive air handling units.

Morgan Sindall Construction used Local Multiplier 3 (LM3), a social value methodology used by companies, government, or community organisations, to measure the impact of their spending and ensure that it generated local economic impact and benefit to the community. 70% of the project supply chain was procured within a 30-mile radius of the project.

As an interim solution during construction, Birmingham City Council commissioned temporary accommodation at the grounds of the former Clifton Road Primary School.

Morgan Sindall Construction worked to decommission the two-storey modular building while schools were closed during lockdown, with the students fully moving-in following the Easter break.

All work on the project has been carried out in adherence with up-to-date government guidelines on safe construction delivery during coronavirus.

Dave Kelly, framework manager at Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “We are really pleased to have handed over the new Eden Girls Leadership Academy for Birmingham City Council. The project is an excellent example of the type of work we have undertaken with Constructing West Midlands during the last eight years and we look forward to continuing our partnership with them over the next four years following our re-appointment as CWM contractor partner.

The new-build has delivered 600 additional school-places to the region in time for the re-opening of schools post-lockdown. We worked with a skilled local supply chain and ensured safe delivery through COVID-19 to handover of the project five-weeks early. Speed and efficiency is crucial when delivering much-needed community assets such as this and we’d like to thank all our project partners for their hard work in reaching this achievement.”

Sara Smith, Senior project manager for Acivico said: “Constructing West Midlands has a proven track record in the delivery of high calibre projects in collaboration with leading contractors such as Morgan Sindall Construction. Throughout this project, the Constructing West Midlands, Morgan Sindall Construction and Acivico teams worked in close partnership and in collaboration with Star Academies to deliver a modern educational facility which provides a vital resource for the local community and a fantastic learning environment for the pupils and staff.”

David Holland, Executive Director: Capital Programmes & Estates at Star Academies, said “The new school campus is the realisation of several years of hard work and planning and we are all delighted that this dream has now become a reality.

Morgan Sindall Construction has worked meticulously throughout the project to deliver a fantastic new school site providing our pupils and staff with a school that they truly deserve. We are looking forward to many years of exceptional learning in our new permanent home.”

• For more information about this news release please contact Helena Young at Influential on 07708896211 or email [email protected]