900-pupil school set for approval

The digital-specialist school, part of Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA), is intended to open to Year 7 pupils in September 2022 in a building ranging from one-and-a-half to four storeys tall.

The school is proposed to be built on the site of the Vauxhall Gardens Education Centre in Barrack Street, which has already been cleared for demolition by the city council’s planning committee.

The report states the proposed school will be a free school and take pupils from across the city (80p per cent of students) and the wider West Midlands area (20 per cent).

Of the Birmingham students, 50 per cent are anticipated to be from Aston, Nechells, Ladywood, Newtown, Lozells, Soho and the Jewellery Quarter.

The 7,887 square metre building – consisting of connected blocks – would include classrooms, ICT rooms, science labs, an art studio, music rooms, drama and activity studios, a main hall.

There would also be a three-court sports hall, library, sixth form and associated offices, storage, toilets and kitchen.

Externally, there are plans for a hard surfaced social area and multi-use games area.

The application site is opposite the locally listed Ashcroft Estate, which was built in the 1930s on the site of a late 18th century Artillery Barracks.

No objections were received from the public following a consultation, although concerns were raised by the council’s transportation development about the low level of car parking provision.

The plans make car parking provision for 14 staff members out of a proposed 90, as well as 80 covered cycle spaces and four visitor spaces close to the entrance.

The proposed development will achieve Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) “Very Good” standard.

The plans are recommended for approval by a planning officer, who states: “The layout, scale and design are considered to be acceptable, providing a high quality development within the constraints of the site and taking into consideration the amount of development required.

“The impact on the adjacent non-designated heritage asset, Ashcroft Estate, is considered to be less than substantial and the public benefits of the new school outweigh this harm.

“Although the level of on-site parking is low this has been justified on the basis of BOA’s fair banding admission policy, is based on the travel modes of the existing site but acknowledging the Barrack Street site is further from the city centre.”

Papers previously put to the city council’s cabinet have stated the city needs an extra 10,000 secondary school places to be created across all its secondary schools in the next four years due to increased birth rates and families moving into the city.

The planning committee meeting can be viewed online at civico.net/birmingham on February 4 from 11am.