Work under way on new St Cuthbert’s

A turf cutting ceremony has been held at St Cuthbert’s RC Business & Enterprise College in Rochdale to officially mark the start of work on the new high school.

The development at Shaw Road, Rochdale is the final construction project within Rochdale’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Head teacher Dr Chris Meehan and pupils were joined by Councillor James Gartside, the Mayor of Rochdale; Councillor Donna Martin, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, and representatives from the council’s local education partnership, inspiredspaces, to celebrate the start of the project. 

The new school will provide accommodation for up to 1,200 pupils including a new three-storey building with art, textiles, graphics, food and design technology spaces alongside fully fitted out science laboratories. The top floor of the new teaching block will be dedicated to humanities, supported by IT areas with an external terrace.

65 per cent of the school will be completely rebuilt, with a total refurbishment of retained buildings such as the sports hall. Part of the existing buildings will be remodelled to provide a new Learning & Resource Centre as well as drama, performance and other larger group spaces.

The new school building will be located further away from Shaw Road, giving a more open approach to the school, and with a new main entrance. A dedicated access to these facilities, adjacent to car parking provision, will also be created to support community use after school hours.

Early demolition and foundation works were completed last year to prepare the site for the construction of the new teaching block, and the steel which will form the frame of the new block is currently in the process of being erected.

The new college facilities are due to be completed in time for the start of term in September 2014, with the demolition of existing buildings and soft landscaping to be fully complete by the end of 2014.

Claire Butler, General Manager for Rochdale’s local education partnership, said: ““The BSF programme has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, not only to transform secondary school buildings but also to change the lives of thousands of young people, and St Cuthbert’s RC is a fitting conclusion to this. And as well as creating state-of-the-art teaching facilities for 1,200 students, the new school will also be much more energy efficient, helping the school to save money year on year.”