Morgan Sindall have helped deliver more than 400 new school places as part of a £400m construction programme from Essex County Council.

Morgan Sindall Construction’s Essex business successfully delivered two new school projects for the council, to meet a high demand for student places across the county. 

The St Luke's Park Primary School build and Ormiston Rivers Academy extension were both procured through the council’s Essex Construction Framework 2 (ECF2) project.

The carbon-neutral project at Ormiston Rivers Academy will provide five new classrooms in a single-storey 4740 sq ft extension, which means the school will be able to accommodate 150 extra pupils with new classrooms, unisex toilets and a staff group room.

The development also included a 144 m sq multi-use play area (MUPA) on the academy’s site.  

St Luke's Park Primary School is built on the former Runwell Hospital site and provides 210 primary and 56 nursery places for families in the new 575-home St Luke’s Development.  

The extension at Ormiston Rivers Academy and the new St Luke's Park Primary School are the latest in a long line of school projects that Morgan Sindall Construction has delivered for Essex County Council, including Sweyne Park School in Rayleigh, Clacton County High School in Clacton-on-Sea, and Colne Community School & College in Brightlingsea.  

Andrew Harper-Rowe, area director at Morgan Sindall Construction’s Essex business, said the company was proud to be involved in creating high quality learning environments for the community in which it operates.

“As a business that’s rooted in the local area, Morgan Sindall Construction understands that new school projects have a significant impact on the people working, living and studying in Essex,” he said.

“This is why we’re proud to be helping to grow Ormiston Rivers Academy in a manner that’s not only highly sustainable, but which will enable it to provide a high-quality learning environment for the community.  

“In fact, Ormiston Rivers Academy is the latest example of the state-of-the-art education facilities that we’ve been developing in the region alongside Essex County Council.

“Thanks to this close collaboration, Essex now has a number of new educational environments designed to engage and inspire the county’s future generations.” 

As part of Morgan Sindall Construction’s commitment to Intelligent Solutions and reducing its environmental impact, it has used modern methods of construction (MMC) and offsite manufacturing at Ormiston Rivers Academy.

This has included the use of a SIPs (Structurally-Insulated Panels) structure, bolstering the extension’s energy efficiency credentials.  

Operationally, this design will secure the academy’s net zero in operation status as well as an A+ EPC rating.

Other key examples of innovative sustainable technology that will be used include the installation of energy efficient lights controlled by Bluetooth and 76 solar panels. 

Angela Mahoney, finance and business director at Ormiston Rivers Academy added Morgan Sindall Construction had built “a new block to be proud of”.

“This is our first net zero building, so not only fits our need to expand but also compliments our ongoing drive to reduce our carbon footprint,” she said.

“The level of detail and quality was impeccable, the team were informative but unobtrusive throughout the whole project.

“Any issue was met with a range of solutions to ensure the extremely tight timeframe was adhered to.

“We took the building two weeks ahead of schedule and the new facility is now being enjoyed by staff & students alike.” 

Nicholas Rudman, headteacher at St Luke’s Primary School, said: “We are very pleased with our new school, which serves the needs of our pupils and the local community extremely well. 

Nathan Vince, principal architectural designer at Concertus, said St Luke's Park Primary School had been designed to fit in with the surrounding residential area and compliments the neighbouring buildings.