Collinson completes construction of £3.2m school facility

Catterall-based Collinson Construction has completed work on a new £3.2m school sports facility in Bristol.

The facility at Backwell School contains a new four court sports hall, fitness suite, three science laboratories and two classrooms. Students began using the new facilities in September, with science, PE, and business and economics being taught in the new buildings.

The project was part-funded by the Department of Education’s priority schools building programme, which helps schools carry out essential maintenance and repairs of old buildings. 

Backwell School’s trust, the Lighthouse Schools Partnership (LSP), was also instrumental in the process and contributed additional funding to allow the school to upgrade its temporary buildings.

Robert Duxbury, managing director at Collinson Construction, said: "This is a great project that has brought together a mixture of building techniques, including a traditionally built block of new science classrooms which brings the science teaching spaces in line with the rest of the school’s building quality, while also giving the school additional teaching space to deliver classes in a more Covid-secure way."

Jon Nunes, headteacher of Backwell School, said: "The new building looks fantastic. It is spacious, bright and modern. It will be home to lessons in three different disciplines - PE, science, and business and economics, and means the school can finally stop teaching in the pre-fabricated huts that were installed as temporary classrooms way back in the 1980s."

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