Suffolk New Academy ‘new build’ accelerated
Students and staff at Suffolk New Academy in Ipswich are celebrating news that the government have brought forward the new build plans for their education facility.
It was thought that the redevelopment of the former Chantry High School site had been put back to 2018 as a result of the coalition austerity measures. However the Academy, sponsored by Suffolk New College, has been told that work should now be completed and the buildings ready for use by the summer of 2015.
“We’re absolutely delighted with the acceleration of the build programme’, said Suffolk New Academy Principal, Andrew Fell.
‘We have worked tirelessly to ensure that our students and young people have the very best facilities available to them in the shortest possible time. I am particularly grateful to all who have helped bring this decision forward.’
Work on the £12 million capital building project is planned to start in summer of next year and will provide state of the art facilities for the academy students with a planned opening date of September 2015.
Commenting on the news, Chair of New Academies Trust, Roger Fern said,
“Chantry High School was badly let down by the withdrawal of ‘Building Schools for the Future’ 24 hours before the contract was signed. For Suffolk New Academy this is really good news.
Students and staff at the academy are working hard and achieving great results, despite the inadequacies of the current building. The new build will enable them to do even better, which is brilliant for them and for the wider community”.
