Once the keys to the school are handed over this summer, it will provide 315 primary and 26 nursery places in the heart of the new David Wilson Homes housing development, The Skylarks.

The new school, which will be run by Spencer Academies Trust, is part of a £14m investment in education in East Leake, by Nottinghamshire County Council. The two-storey building includes 8 classrooms, a nursery, a library, a food-tech room, a hall and dance studio.

A number of pupils have already had a glimpse of life at Millside Spencer Academy thanks to a Temporary Learning Village (TLV), which has provided facilities for up to 63 local children. Once the school is handed over, the cabins will be removed and used elsewhere to make way for the delivery of a new school field which will complement existing outdoor play areas.

The project utilised Building Information Modelling (BIM) during the design and delivery stages, benefitting from coordinated and clash detected 3D models which also helped give greater programme certainty. The approach has also been adopted to promote sustainability: modular builds were used for the construction of the TLV, which involves creating the property offsite in a factory and produces 45% less carbon than traditional methods.

Morgan Sindall was appointed by Arc Partnership to deliver Millside Spencer Academy. The school builds on an existing strong relationship between the contractor and Arc Partnership after the successful joint delivery of Bingham Primary School in August 2022 and Rosecliffe Spencer Academy in May 2021.

The contractor has focussed on its social value initiatives and has organised several school tours and university visits for undergraduate quantity surveyors from Nottingham Trent University. Within the community, the team has collected for local food banks and helped the school with the set-up of its forest school. Ukrainian refugees have also found employment on site through social enterprises Recycling Lives and Radiant Cleaners.

A further commitment for the contractor is its local spend with subcontractors within 20 miles, and its target of 30% has already been exceeded.