Eric Wright completes £22.8m catholic college project

A multi-million pound project to redevelop St Mary’s Catholic College and Christ the King Catholic Primary School in Blackpool is complete.

The existing school has been sensitively refurbished to establish a 1,220 place secondary school, Sixth Form Centre and a brand new 210 place primary school. This extensive scheme also saw the building of a new Parish Church for Christ the King as a calm and reflective place of worship.

The sixth form learning centre offers ultra-modern facilities with the introduction of a communal area with quiet spaces for study alongside a separate learning resource centre.

The schools have been created with innovation and technology in mind, with new buildings featuring light and spacious classrooms, each decorated with fun vibrant colours to provide a creative and inspirational learning environment.

The final phase of the project involved moving Christ the King Catholic Primary School and Christ the King Parish Church onto the site.

“This scheme also provided us with a platform to provide employment opportunities for budding builders thanks to the Apprenticeship Training Association which saw us, our supply chain and subcontractors recruit apprentices to work on the project.

Stephen Tierney, executive headteacher of St Mary’s Catholic College and Christ the King Catholic Primary School, said: “This outstanding partnership of the schools, Blackpool Council and Eric Wright has helped establish a beacon of excellence on the top of Layton Hill.

Carl Baker, assistant director of children’s services at Blackpool Council, added: “The school together with the Local Authority are extremely pleased and fortunate to have been granted approval of this new building by the Department for Education under the Building Schools for the Future Programme back in 2010.

“We are delighted with the new school and the pupils and staff are now eager to take up full occupation this September. “The project team, from the Architects at IBI Nightingale’s to the Constructor’s at Eric Wright Construction have worked incredibly hard over the last four years to deliver this outstanding school campus. It has been a very successful project and one which could only be delivered through a collaborative approach and a positive team ethos; it is a credit all those involved.”