Morgan Sindall Construction has been appointed to two schemes for Hackney Council worth a combined total of around £97.5m.

The company will deliver the new Britannia Leisure Centre and public realm improvements under a £53.8m contract and a new secondary school and sixth form, the City of London Academy Shoreditch Park, under a £43.7m contract. 

The contracts were awarded via the Southern Construction Framework, and the projects form the first phase of Hackney Council’s programme to replace an outdated leisure centre with the facilities and hundreds of new homes, including those for genuinely affordable social rent and shared ownership. 

Designed with local people and users, the new leisure centre will include:

• six-lane, 25m main pool with moveable floor
• 20m x 10m training pool with moveable floor
• leisure water – for children and families – with water features and a flume
• café and toilets 
• six-court sports hall
• crèche and soft play area
• sauna and steam room
• fitness suite, spin studio and flexible studio spaces
• Four squash courts
• Two five-a-side pitches
• Two tennis/netball courts

The centre is due to complete in spring 2021 and will be delivered by a project team including FaulknerBrown architects and Buro Happold engineers. Project management for Hackney Council will be delivered by Hadron Consulting. The current leisure centre won’t close until the new one is open.

The new City of London Academy Shoreditch Park will provide a secondary school and sixth form with 1,140 new school places to help to meet demand in Hackney. A new rooftop playground area will also be constructed to create a relaxing outdoor area where students will be able to play and enjoy being outside.

The project team delivering the school includes Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios architects, Buro Happold engineers, with external project management for Hackney Council being delivered by PCSG. Works on the school are due to complete in early summer 2021. 

Richard Dobson, area director for Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “We’re delighted to have been appointed to these important projects which will revitalise and regenerate this key area of Hackney. Both developments will have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of Hackney’s community and most importantly, its youngest residents, and we’re proud to be playing a role in improving education and leisure provision for Hackney’s current community and its future citizens.”

The area will also get a bio-diversity boost as part of the wider project; more trees will be planted, bird boxes will be introduced, and wildlife-friendly planting will provide a greater variety of habitats and food sources for bees and other insects.