Kier has won a £41m contract for a major school project as part of a wider government plan for upgrades.
The tier one contractor was this week been named by the Department for Education (DfE) to partially redevelop the Hewett Academy in Norwich.
The 1950s secondary school was among 61 picked by the DfE in 2022 in a new wave of funding via the government’s School Rebuilding Programme.
The initiative was first announced in 2020 under the previous government with the aim to upgrade around 500 schools in a decade, at a rate of 50 a year.
However, the BBC reported last October that only 62 contracts had been awarded to firms since the programme had started. The DfE has blamed inflationary pressures in the construction sector.
Plans for the Hewett Academy include building a new sports hall, upgrading its swimming pool and demolishing derelict buildings. The school’s Walter Roy Theatre will also be refurbished.
Norwich City Council granted planning permission for the work last September.
At the time, Gareth Stevens, chief executive of Inspiration Trust, which oversees the Hewett Academy, said the plans had been “eight years in the making” but improving the facilities would “match the exceptional education our pupils receive”.
Kier’s contract started last month and is due to end in November 2027, according to a public notice for the work.
The contractor – ranked as the third-biggest in the UK in the latest CN100 table – was also appointed by the DfE last July to redevelop Northolt High School in Ealing, West London.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves promised £1.4bn for the School Rebuilding Programme last October, which she said would mean 50 rebuilds a year. First announced in 2020, the scheme was due to deliver 500 schools by 2030.
The government is also rebuilding or refurbishing 119 schools where they were found to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
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James Wilmore