Warwickshire County Council has become the first local authority to buy an off-the-shelf school from main contractor Willmott Dixon.
The £2.2m school will be built to a design from the low cost Sunesis standardised product range, developed by Willmott Dixon and public sector procurement vehicle Scape, to create extra capacity at Oakfield Primary School in Rugby.
Launched last year, Sunesis was set up to meet the Government’s ‘more for less’ agenda and reduce the cost of new schools by up to 30%. The service delivers pre-designed primary and secondary schools at a fixed price and aims to achieve a cost of £8,500 – £10,000 per pupil compared to £15,000 – £20,000 per pupil for a typical school.
At Oakfield Primary School, the economic Keynes model of Sunesis will enable the school to build an entirely new building to accommodate growing pupil numbers, rather than the smaller extension using traditional methods.
The new building will be completed 26 weeks earlier than a traditional bespoke school due to an accelerated design process, fast assembly and the fact that there’s no need to tender for a contractor. Using Sunesis has also resulted in reduced fees associated with legal issues, feasibility studies, design and time spent at planning and procurement meetings, said Willmott Dixon. The contractor will start on site this month and complete the project for the new school year.
