Willmott Dixon signs up for £25.7m Kettering academy
Willmott Dixon has signed a £25.7m contract with Northamptonshire County Council to build the Kettering Science Academy. The academy is part of the authority's £55m academies building programme that Willmott Dixon was appointed as preferred bidder for in April.
Once the science academy has been completed, work will begin on Kettering Buccleuch Academy and the Malcolm Arnold Academy in Northampton.
Working with Nicholas Hare Architects, the company will begin work on the science academy later this month. The project, which will create a new 1,100 place school in the Ise Lodge area, is being sponsored by Brooke Weston Academy Trust. The new building will replace the existing secondary phase of the Kettering Science Academy, previously the ISE Community College.
Peter Owen, managing director for Willmott Dixon in the Midlands, said: "It’s great news that we have the go-ahead following the uncertainty in the summer when many of these projects were called in for review by the new coalition government. We also hope to agree a contract for Buccleuch Academy in the near future and it is important to highlight – in addition to their educational significance - just how important these academies will be to local business.
“We are committed to investing 50 per cent of the combined value of the academies work with local businesses within a 30 mile radius of our sites. We will use local companies for a range of services, from groundworks and roofworks to brickwork and joinery.”
The bespoke academy, which is due to open in September 2012, is built on two levels with a 28-metre diameter central courtyard. It will also have a 450-seat theatre, a sprung timber floor sports hall, two Astroturf pitches and two 'super labs' to further support the science specialism.
The building's green credentials include a first for any school in Northamptonshire - a hi-tech heating system located under the lower playing field. This will regulate the temperature of the water flowing through the underground pipes so that it can be used in the Academy's heating and cooling systems, helping to reduce energy bills.
