The Fordway Centre short stay school in Stanwell, Surrey, is expanding its capacity with a new two-storey facility, which is currently being built by Morgan Sindall Construction.
Morgan Sindall’s Southern Home Counties business was appointed by Surrey County Council (SCC) to deliver the £5 million alternative provision (AP) centre, which was procured via the Southern Construction Framework (SCF).
The former building on the site has been demolished and construction work is underway. When completed in Spring 2025, ready for the start of the Easter term, the school’s new building will have four classrooms and a dedicated reception, allowing the Fordway Centre to accommodate 24 pupils.
The building will include group rooms and calm spaces as well as an activity room, staff space and a holistic kitchen which will double up as a community area, where pupils can socialise and learn to make food. Externally, a playground and multi-use games area (MUGA) will also be created.
Fordway, part of the Inclusive Education Trust, caters for pupils aged 6-11 years who are finding it difficult to manage well in a mainstream setting. It aims to support and work with pupils’ individual needs and improve behaviours for learning with the intention of returning them to a mainstream setting, where appropriate.
In collaboration with architects Holmes Miller, the multi-use nature of the rooms being constructed will provide the school’s teaching and support staff with a lot of versatility, enabling them to tailor the spaces to best suit the pupil’s needs.
Sustainability has been a key aspect of the development, with the site designed to be net zero carbon in operation. The tier one contractor’s team has implemented a range of sustainable innovations to achieve this, including the use of a Streif closed panel structural timber building system, which provides high energy efficiency levels.
To further minimise the project’s environmental impact, Morgan Sindall successfully managed to reduce the new buildings carbon footprint by 23.2 tonnes of CO2.
Central to these significant emissions savings was reducing the size of the concrete foundation and slab. This was possible thanks to additional ground investigations, which identified better than anticipated soil properties. In addition, concrete produced using ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS) instead of Ordinary Portland Cement was chosen, which significantly reduces the concrete’s carbon emissions.
As part of Morgan Sindall’s commitment to maximising the social value generated through its projects, the local community will have opportunities to train and gain new skills throughout the construction activity. This includes work experience placements and programmes to provide jobs to help local residents return to the workplace.
Guy Hannell, Morgan Sindall Construction’s Southern Home Counties Area Director, said: “As a business that’s rooted in the area and its local communities, we understand how important projects such as this are to the families and young people of Surrey. This makes it a real privilege to be working with Surrey County Council, who are rolling out an incredible modernisation programme for AP and SEN facilities to tackle the rising demand for this type of specialised education.
“Through our previous work on similar developments, such as Eastbourne’s Summerdown School and Freemantles School in Woking, we’re able to bring a lot of expertise to the project and understand what it takes to create specialised educational environments tailored to the needs of SEN pupils or pupils with additional learning requirements. For the Fordway Centre, it’s also been important to leverage our knowledge in sustainable construction to align with the council’s net zero carbon goals.”
Councillor Natalie Bramhall, Surrey County Council Cabinet member for Property, Infrastructure and Waste, said: “We are delighted to be working with Morgan Sindall on the delivery of the Fordway Centre. Through the creation of a sustainable site, Morgan Sindall supports our commitment to Surrey’s Greener Future and net zero ambitions.
“Furthermore, the construction of the Fordway Centre drives our ambition to increase the number of specialist school places in Surrey, providing local children with the best opportunities for improved outcomes.”
Rumyana Odazhieva, Architect at Holmes Miller, said: “It’s been incredibly rewarding to design this sustainable and unique project that directly benefits local pupils with diverse needs. For many young people, adapting to new learning environments can be challenging, therefore Fordway’s outstanding work to support students with specific learning requirements is crucial in preparing them for future success.
“The facility is an ideal blend of versatility and people-centred design. Its thoughtful creation promotes an inclusive and calming environment where pupils have the space to learn at their own pace within a busy urban setting. We’re confident it will be a space where everyone can thrive.”
Morgan Sindall’s Southern Home Counties business has previously worked alongside SCC to create additional SEN pupil places in the county. This includes Freemantles School, which opened a new facility last year which will allow the school to continue an expansion to 270 places, with two forms of entry for students aged 4-19 years old. The new building links to the pre-existing school and has replaced three temporary classroom blocks with specialist classrooms including a creative arts room, food technology kitchens as well as a sports hall.
The contractor’s experience in the delivery of AP and SEN sectors also recently saw it deliver the Summerdown SEN school in Eastbourne. Procured through the Department for Education (DfE) framework, the new school includes a host of bespoke and specialist equipment, including a hydrotherapy pool, sensory rooms, food technology and state-of-the-art science laboratories as well as landscaped gardens to provide an enriching outdoor environment. The school has created 135 much-needed local school places for children aged 5-16 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), complex learning needs and medical difficulties.
