Ravensdale Infant and Nursery School

In October 2020, Ravensdale Infant and Nursery School in Mickleover, Derby, was the victim of a devastating arson attack that left the majority of its structure and contents in ruin. Overnight, 296 children aged three to seven, found themselves without their school once again, having only just returned from lockdown. Working in close collaboration with Morgan Sindall Construction and other key stakeholders, Derby City Council implemented one of the most efficient procurement and delivery programmes available to rebuild the school in the shortest timeframe possible.

Key Stats

100% on time and budget
100% defect free
10/10 client satisfaction
£1,607,603 Social Value generated
95% waste diverted from landfill
Modern methods of construction utilised
Speedy procurement via the SCAPE Construction framework

At a Glance

Client

Derby City Council

Budget

£6.9m

Completion

June 2022

Location

Mickleover, Derby

Framework

SCAPE (Regional Construction Framework)

Sector

Primary Education

Ravensdale Infant and Primary School was victim of a arson attack

Ravensdale Infant and Primary School still ablaze

The aftermath of arson attack at Ravensdale Infant School

The charred remains of Ravensdale Infant School

A speedy response

Within hours of the fire and rescue services extinguishing the flames, Derby City Council had already organised an emergency team to manage the crisis. It swiftly appointed Morgan Sindall Construction and Lungfish Architects to assist with the rebuild, after both successfully partnered to deliver Castleward, Hackwood and Highfields – three similar-sized primary schools within the Derby area. The speed and certainty of the appointment was also made possible through SCAPE, a fully-compliant public sector procurement authority dedicated to driving collaboration and value for money.

Determined to minimise the impact on the children’s learning, a decision was made to temporarily place all the pupils into a number of local schools – including the three schools newly-built by Morgan Sindall Construction. As well as providing pupils and teachers with state-of-the-art learning environments, it also gave them the comfort and familiarity of remaining together in their year groups. For those that were moved to schools in Hackwood and Highfields, it also gave them a first-hand experience of what modular construction could offer.

Morgan Sindall was also able to relieve some of the pressure on the local school network by installing a Temporary Learning Village for the nursery and Year 1 children

A temporary solution

Morgan Sindall Construction was also able to relieve some of the pressure on the local school network by installing a Temporary Learning Village, initially for the Nursery and Year 2 children, and then the Nursery and Reception children the following September. This was facilitated through SCAPE’s collaborative network, which linked Derby City Council with Nottinghamshire County Council to secure and relocate the temporary teaching facilities being used at the nearby Rosecliffe Spencer Academy. This not only provided the school leadership team with a central hub to co-ordinate their activities, but it also reduced the disruption and stress faced by the parents of the youngest children.

With the care and education of the children secured, attention quickly returned to the task of rebuilding the school. Numerous site surveys and assessments revealed the severity of damage, with the demolition of the existing structure and the design and build of a new school the only remaining option. Looking to reopen the school as quickly as possible, it was decided a modular design, utilising off-site construction, would offer the shortest delivery programme.

A blueprint for success

Looking to benefit from Morgan Sindall Construction’s Intelligent Solutions approach to using modular construction, Ravensdale adopted the same design blueprint as Highfields Spencer Academy – a modular school that completed on time and snag free after just nine months, and with a customer satisfaction score of 9/10.

As well as offering vital time savings in the design and pre-construction stages, it also allowed time to carry out further enhancements to the school whilst accommodating for the increase in size. Sitting directly on top of the former site, the footprint of the new single storey building was increased by 300 square metres to be in line with the Department for Education’s recommendations, and the layout reconfigured to maximise teaching and play areas.

Accommodating 330 pupils, the new school features 10 spacious classrooms, a double-height hall, a library, a group and SEN room and fully equipped catering, staff and admin areas. In keeping with the school’s forest ethos, each classroom has their own access to the outdoors plus extensive canopies to allow for outdoor learning.

In total, the school is made up of 58 pre-fabricated modules which were built offsite before being delivered and installed in less than two weeks. This helped ensure the construction of the school completed both on time and on budget in just 45 weeks. Additionally, offsite construction provided minimal disruption to the neighbouring junior school as well as the wider community.

“It’s amazing to finally be home and all back together with our staff, children and families all under one roof. Our new school is a fabulous, modern school and we are really excited and ready to make new memories together here. All the children are very excited to begin learning in their new school and the staff have already made it a magical place to learn in and to make our community feel safe, happy and able to reach their full potential.” - Lorna Blanchenot, Headteacher of Ravensdale Infant and Nursery.

“This is a joyous milestone for all staff and pupils at the school and I am pleased to see the school rebuilt to the highest standards, on budget and on time. This has been possible because of excellent partnership working between Ravensdale School staff, the governing body, and school leadership team, Morgan Sindall Construction, Lungfish Architects and the Council. It was deeply upsetting to see the destruction caused by the fire, but these fantastic facilities will help pupils make the most of the first stages of their learning journey. Losing a school has an enormous community impact, and my thanks go to the schools who offered space for Ravensdale children while the building work was ongoing.”- Councillor Evonne Williams, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People & Skills at Derby City Council.

“Given the abrupt nature and the need to get the children back to their studies, it was crucial we acted quickly. As such, we assessed every step of the process to see if further efficiencies could be made to get to site in record time. Thanks to the SCAPE procurement method and the level of collaboration between the Ravensdale school staff, councils, Lungfish Architects, and our Morgan Sindall Construction team, this was achieved. we were able to turn the project around in 45 weeks and we're now delighted to hand over the brand-new facilities. This project really is a testament to what can be achieved when everyone comes together as a community.” - Richard Fielding, Area Director at Morgan Sindall Construction.

"The collaboration between Morgan Sindall Construction and Derby City Council to get pupils back to their own school has been incredible, and as a team we are extremely proud to have designed the new modular school that replaces the previous facility destroyed by fire. There is an urgency to provide the new school building so that Ravensdale can begin to operate and teach as a whole school once more, and utilising offsite and modular can ensure that we deliver quickly, efficiently, and affordably.” - Craig Taylor, director at Lungfish Architects.