Significant milestone reached as Millside Spencer Academy tops out

A topping out ceremony has marked a major milestone at a new £9.2m school in Nottingham, which will create vital school places for a village.

SCAPE is supporting the delivery of Millside Spencer Academy in East Leake, working in collaboration with its partner, Morgan Sindall and on behalf of Arc Partnership, a joint venture between SCAPE and Nottinghamshire County Council.

Once the keys to the school are handed over this summer, it will provide 315 primary and 26 nursery places in the heart of the new David Wilson Homes housing development, The Skylarks.

The school, which will be run by Spencer Academies Trust, is part of a £14m investment in education in East Leake, by Nottinghamshire County Council. The two-storey building includes 8 classrooms, a nursery, a library, a food-tech room, a hall and dance studio.

The project utilised Building Information Modelling (BIM) during the design and delivery stages, benefitting from coordinated and clash detected 3D models which also helped give greater programme certainty. The approach has also been adopted to promote sustainability: modular builds were used for the construction of the Temporary Learning Village, which involves creating the property offsite in a factory and produces 45% less carbon than traditional methods.

Social value has been a large focus throughout the development. As part of its commitment to achieving social value on all SCAPE projects, Morgan Sindall organised several school tours and university visits for undergraduate quantity surveyors from Nottingham Trent University.

Within the community, the team has collected for local food banks and helped the school with the set-up of its forest school. Ukrainian refugees have also found employment on site through social enterprises Recycling Lives and Radiant Cleaners.

A further commitment for Morgan Sindall has been its its local spend with subcontractors within 20 miles, and its target of 30% has already been exceeded.