Morgan Sindall delivers Bushey’s new Net Zero primary school

Morgan Sindall Construction’s Northern Home Counties business has handed over the brand new Little Reddings Primary School in Bushey.

The school was built on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE) and will be operated by the Bushey St James Trust.

Created to be net zero in operation, the project was delivered in two phases. The first phase handed over in summer 2024 and now the final stages of the school have been completed.

For phase one, Morgan Sindall built a new two-storey, two form entry primary school, consisting of 15 new classrooms, in the playing fields adjacent to the former school.

Phase two saw the tier one contractor demolish the two existing buildings and create a multi-use games area (MUGA) as well as a full-sized Sport England sports pitch in their place. This phase of the work also enhanced the site’s car parks, refurbished the facility’s creche building, and upgraded the external landscaped area, making it more attractive and creating additional space for the school’s users.

Due to the nature of the site’s layout, during the second phase of the project the construction work took place close to a live school environment. Therefore, Morgan Sindall carefully scheduled its work and deliveries to minimise disruption to the school, its staff, students, and parents as well as local residents and site users.

As part of Morgan Sindall’s Intelligent Solutions approach, the project team utilised innovative sustainable technologies and methods to achieve a net zero carbon in operation school. This included installing ground source heat pumps and 270 photovoltaic (PV) panels on a bio-solar roof, which combines a green roof to support biodiversity alongside solar panels to generate renewable energy.

An offsite-manufactured Streif closed panel structural timber building system was also installed. Using this composite timber frame reduced the building’s carbon output while securing the long-term sustainable future of the school thanks to its advanced energy efficiency standards.

To optimise Little Reddings Primary School’s sustainability performance, Morgan Sindall deployed its proprietary carbon assessment tool CarboniCa throughout all construction stages, including RIBA stages four to six. CarboniCa is an innovative carbon calculation tool that allowed the project team to estimate, manage, and reduce carbon emissions throughout the building’s design, construction, and life cycle.

To support local skills development and generate social value during the project, several work experience placements were hosted by Morgan Sindall. This included both secondary school placements as well as T Level apprenticeships. One student who undertook a six-week work experience placement at the project during a construction management A Level course has gone on to work as an apprentice site manager while taking a T-level apprenticeship.

Emma Curtis, Area Director at Morgan Sindall Construction in the Northern Home Counties, said:

Seeing the new Little Reddings Primary School open its doors was a fantastic moment for the whole team, as we know this school will provide pupils and the local community with a tailored, state-of-the-art educational environment for generations to come.

We’re also very proud of the sustainable innovations that have gone into this landmark project and how our close, collaborative relationship with the Department for Education has culminated in a high performance, Net Zero learning facility.”