Ashe Construction has been awarded a £12m design & build contract to construct an extension at Bedford Academy for Bedford Borough Council.

The 60-week project will see 16 state-of-the-art classrooms constructed along with changing rooms, dining area and community café. The building will be highly efficient and has been designed to be Net Zero Carbon in Operation.

Located on Mile Road in the town, there are currently 1350 pupils on the role and the new facilities will accommodate 300 new pupils as part of phased growth to 1800 pupils by 2029, making it one of the largest secondary schools in Bedford.

The new classrooms will be bright and safe and have been designed to be simple, all with whiteboards, and ICT facilities. Feedback from students has been incorporated in the layout of rooms, with teachers able to circulate freely around desks enabling them to have closer contact with individual pupils while being able to remotely access the white board and operate power point presentations to aid learning.

The extension, designed by GSS Architecture, will provide multi-use spaces making it extremely versatile so it can be used as a community hub outside of school learning hours. Some of the multi-use rooms will have two points of internal access, depending on the time of day and user group, and a landscaped external terrace area will enable some classrooms to be opened up for secure access to the outdoors. Community users include football, basketball and badminton clubs, faith groups and dance schools. Individuals can also hire the facilities for their own use.

With so many community users, a flexible, multi-use space including kitchen, dining hall and community café with Wi-Fi will be open to parents and visitors during evening and weekend activities providing space for 300 people in one sitting.

The two-storey extension will be Net Zero Carbon in Operation and the building materials will be carefully selected to give a modern and contemporary feel. Products chosen will be simple, yet robust and be low maintenance over the life of the building.

The building will operate to high efficiency levels and U Values must be stringent with no heat loss through the façade of the building.  Ashe will use a special product to coat both sides of the external walls, to provide the airtightness required for Net Zero Carbon in Operation standards.  The school will be powered by photo voltaic panels installed on the roof to create as much renewable energy as possible, and air source heat pumps will generate the energy for heating.

To create a comfortable environment in classrooms, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery units will be installed in ceiling voids which will be attached to louvres in the façade to enable air to flow in and out.  Heat from the air source heat pumps will be recovered and used to warm the returning air in the colder months.  In the summer there will be a night purge of hot air through windows to allow excess heat created during the day to be released, all to make the ideal environment for learning.

The school has changed its admission policy to plan for growing numbers of students in the area so that all families living within catchment of the school, have a sibling, or attend one of the named primary/feeder schools are given high priority.

Chris Deller, head teacher at Bedford Academy said: “We are making the most of this chance to make new sustainable facilities for our school.  In preparation for predicted growth in the number of children needing a school place in our local community, we are going to provide them with lovely new, bright and clean learning spaces. The families who use our buildings outside of school time will have access to our large dining hall which will double up as a café for parents to use while they wait for their children to finish their activities.”

Bedford Academy has recently installed a new 3G astro turf pitch and Ashe will construct four new changing rooms which will accommodate180 students, further enhancing the school’s sports provision, along with referee changing rooms.

A silent study area and office spaces for staff to work will be included and 300 student lockers will be installed.

Pick Everard is project managing the scheme, which is expected to be completed in August 2025 in time for the new school year.

Sean Conneely, Director of Project Management for Pick Everard said: “Everyone involved with planning this project has come together to work collaboratively to take an idea to reality. Working closely with the school, Bedford Borough Council, Ashe and project consultants, we’re going to increase capacity to teach many more pupils who live in the area. The children will benefit from excellent facilities that are designed to be conducive to learning whilst being sustainable and efficient to operate. Well done to everyone in the team for making this project a reality.”

Ashe will use social value activities such as sponsoring local community interest company Food etc which provides cookery courses to families in disadvantaged areas of Bedford. Ashe, supported by Pick Everard, will also introduce students to the careers available in the construction industry to help combat the construction skills shortage.

Andrew Morris, Ashe’s business development director said: “We’re very sensitive to the needs of schools’ when we’re working in live settings so we will bring all our experience to bear on this project for Bedford Academy. We also plan to involve the whole school community in events to celebrate project milestones and will find opportunities to show the pupils, first hand, the variety of construction-related careers available to them in the future. They’ll be able to see how their new facilities develop and by inviting them to see our team at work, they can find out more about the different roles that work together to deliver outstanding projects.”

20 new carparking spaces, disabled parking and four electric vehicle spaces will be created. The school will also add 77 new cycle spaces to encourage sustainable travel to school.

The project has been procured through the SCAPE Framework.