Spatial Initiative – the joint venture between Styles&Wood and ESS Modular – has been appointed to a new £3bn Department for Education (DfE) modular schools framework. The appointment will see Spatial Initiative join a panel of contractors that will deliver 30 new primary and secondary schools per year for the next four years across the UK.
Spatial Initiative was established to combine ESS Modular’s knowledge of modular construction with Styles&Wood’s expertise in fast-track project delivery in complex live environments. This appointment marks the fourth successful framework selection for the company who has secured 16 new school builds with a combined value of over £100 million over the last 2 years.
Speaking about the appointment, Sarah Morton, director for Spatial Initiative said, “We are delighted to have been selected as one of the contractors to work with the DfE on this new ambitious schools framework. We are excited that modern methods of construction are being increasingly recognised as the ideal solution to deliver the quantity and quality of educational projects required to provide outstanding learning spaces for pupils. This new framework builds upon the work already undertaken in component primary and secondary school frameworks and is designed to enable the industry to develop and innovate modular offsite techniques as we move towards DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) in the future.”
MMC framework
The new DfE framework highlights a continued shift in government preference toward modern methods of construction (MMC) for new-build and educational projects. The main objective of the framework is to appoint a panel of recognised contractors that can deliver schools which are cost-efficient, of premium quality, and manufactured predominantly using offsite modular techniques.
School frameworks
Spatial Initiative has successfully been appointed to four schools’ frameworks over the last two years including the DfE Construction Framework; the Component Primary Block Framework the Component Secondary Block Framework and the DfE Offsite Framework announced today.
As part of the Component Primary Block Framework framework, Spatial Initiative recently handed over the new Pound Hill Junior School on the north-eastern outskirts of Crawley. This new school consisting of 12 classrooms, a sports hall and ancillary rooms over two storeys was required to replace an old building and temporary units that were being used to house the schools 360 students.
