Planning approved for £14.6m expansion at Salisbury’s Sarum Academy
A £14.6 million expansion of Sarum Academy will provide additional classrooms, improved facilities, and enhanced sports facilities at the Salisbury school.
Wiltshire Council will has been granted planning permission for the investment, which will increase capacity by 300 places and help meet growing demand for secondary school places in the city.
Morgan Sindall Construction has been appointed to deliver the multi-phase project, which was procured through the Southern Construction Framework (SCF) and is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
The development will include:
- Refurbishment of part of the existing teaching block
- Construction of a new two-storey, net zero science block
- A new artificial sports pitch
- Conversion of an existing building for sports and physical education use
- Reconfiguration of teaching spaces to grow from a six to an eight-form entry school, including additional art and music classrooms
Wiltshire Council works closely with schools to plan for future demand and ensure there are sufficient local school places. Once complete, the development will provide a modern learning environment to help more young people attend school locally alongside their peers.
Supporting Wiltshire Council's Environmental Policy objectives has been a key consideration throughout the design process. The new science block is being designed to operate at net zero carbon, while detailed sustainability assessments have helped identify opportunities to reduce energy demand, improve efficiency, and minimise the environmental impact of the development.
The digital carbon calculation tool CarboniCa has been used to assess the plans and inform how carbon emissions can be reduced. This has included saving 21 tonnes of carbon by redesigning the external sports pitch and avoiding the movement of an extra 20,000m3 of earth.
As the refurbishment and expansion will take place on a live school site, the Morgan Sindall team will work with the staff and local community to ensure the construction activity will have as minimal an impact on Sarum Academy’s daily operations as possible.
To maximise social value, Wiltshire Council and Morgan Sindall have developed a Social Value and Sustainability Charter for the project. This includes activities linked to the school's curriculum, engagement with pupils through assemblies, a viewing window in the site hoarding so pupils can follow the project's progress, and opportunities to create employment, training and skills development for local people.
Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said:
Wiltshire Council is committed to investing in the education of our young people. We carefully plan for future demand so that we can provide as many local school places as possible.
It is important that young people can attend school in their local community and benefit from excellent facilities that support their learning, wellbeing, and future aspirations."
Cliff Kinch, Area Director for Morgan Sindall Construction in the South, said:
The expansion of Sarum Academy is a really exciting project, as we know that it’s going to help futureproof Salisbury’s educational landscape by creating hundreds of new secondary school places. It’ll also be looking after the local community’s future generations in more ways than one, as its net zero design will provide a sustainable, high-end teaching environment for years to come.”
ENDS