£64m Crawley school rebuild gets under way


Bouygues UK has secured a £64 million contract to redevelop Holy Trinity CofE Secondary School in Crawley, West Sussex, with construction due to begin this month.


The project is being delivered through the Department for Education’s School Rebuilding Programme and will be carried out in phases while the existing school remains operational. A new 9,300m², three-storey teaching building will be constructed on land to the south of the existing school.


The new accommodation will include an assembly hall, sixth-form hub, library and specialist teaching spaces. The project will also provide five multi-use games areas, landscaped recreation space and a new car park.


Once the new building is occupied, the older buildings will be demolished. The existing 1,500m² Young Building will be retained and refurbished as part of the redevelopment.


The completed campus is intended to accommodate 1,500 pupils, compared with approximately 1,410 currently. The new building is targeting BREEAM Excellent and will incorporate rooftop solar photovoltaic panels, a ground-source heat pump and passive ventilation.


Jestico + Whiles is the architect for the scheme, with Bouygues responsible for construction. The overall redevelopment is scheduled for completion in late 2029.


The phased approach means the project team must maintain the operation of the secondary school while simultaneously constructing the new building and subsequently undertaking demolition, refurbishment and external works.


The contract was reported on 20 August 2026, making it one of the most recent major school construction appointments currently announced.


£22m Glenwood Primary redevelopment combines new build and refurbishment


Construction is under way on a £22 million redevelopment of Glenwood Primary School in Belfast. The project involves the major refurbishment of the existing Grade B1 listed school building alongside construction of a new block.


The new accommodation will contain ten classrooms, a library and dining facilities. The existing listed building is being retained and refurbished rather than replaced. The Education Minister, Paul Givan, marked the project with a first-sod ceremony in May. Construction had already begun in February 2026, with completion anticipated in February 2028.


Hamilton Architects is the lead Integrated Consultant Team and Bell Contracts is the appointed building contractor. The project provides an example of a school redevelopment where the existing building’s architectural and historic character is retained while new accommodation is added alongside it.


For specifiers, the combination of refurbishment and new construction presents different technical requirements within the same project.


The existing Grade B1 listed building requires refurbishment, while the new block provides additional teaching and support accommodation. The two elements need to operate as a single school while responding to their different construction characteristics. The scheme also demonstrates how capital investment can be used to improve an existing school without demolishing the entire site.


The project is scheduled to continue until February 2028.


Once complete, the school will have refurbished historic accommodation alongside the new classroom block, library and dining facilities. The project is one of a number of major education construction schemes being delivered in Northern Ireland as part of the Department of Education’s capital programme. For design teams working on older education buildings, the scheme provides a current example of how listed or architecturally significant school buildings can be incorporated into a wider redevelopment rather than automatically replaced.


£11m Oxfordshire programme targets SEND and school-place pressures


Oxfordshire County Council has approved major investment in three schools, including more than £2 million for the expansion of Mabel Prichard Special School in Oxford. The decisions were announced on 3 July 2026 and cover Mabel Prichard Special School, Grove Church of England Primary School and Faringdon Community College.


At Mabel Prichard, existing foundation-stage accommodation at the co-located Orchard Meadow Primary School will be remodelled and refurbished. The project will provide three classrooms, pupil toilets, a group room and ancillary accommodation, alongside improvements to the entrance, offices, staff room, parking and highway access.


The estimated capital budget is more than £2 million, with a full business case due to be submitted to the council’s cabinet in August


At Grove CE Primary School, a £9.4 million project will increase capacity from 210 to 315 primary places and add 39 nursery places. The new building will provide seven classrooms, a hall and kitchen, reception, administrative and staff accommodation. The existing building will be remodelled to provide nursery and reception accommodation. Work at Grove is due to start in February 2027.


The third project is at Faringdon Community College, where four temporary buildings containing eight classrooms will be replaced with permanent accommodation. The first phase will provide a two-storey teaching block containing seven classrooms, three group rooms, offices, toilets and circulation and breakout space. A second phase will provide a student centre with work rooms, meeting rooms, offices and toilets. Construction is due to start later in 2026.


The three projects demonstrate different responses to local education-estate requirements, ranging from refurbishment and remodelling of existing accommodation to new-build expansion and replacement of temporary buildings.


The schemes are being delivered with funding provided by Oxfordshire County Council and involve the relevant academy trusts responsible for the schools.


Autumn 2026 issue 4185 7


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