Work to start on £30m super school

Work on a £30 million super school in the Black Country is due to start this month.

The Rowley Regis scheme signals the start of a £370 million project that will eventually see every school in Sandwell rebuilt, revamped or extended.

In the first phase of Building Schools for the Future, the former Rowley Regis College site in Hawes Lane will become the new site for St Michael's CofE School Business and Enterprise College; Westminster School, West Bromwich; and Whiteheath Education Centre, Rowley Regis.

The school will be named the Rowley Regis Learning Campus and will have more than a thousand pupils on site. It is hoped that the new campus will be up and running by 2011.

The super school will be an entirely new-build project and many of the facilities will be shared across the three schools.

These include sports and fitness facilities, performing arts areas and specialist business, enterprise and design and technology accommodation.

Modern

Rowley Regis College and Holly Lodge High School, Smethwick, are the first two schools to be transformed, with Holly Lodge revamped to be Smethwick Learning Campus.

They will have modern, glass-fronted buildings, complete with landscaping, parking and benches.

There will also be cafe-style dining areas and outdoor seating.

Sandwell Councillor Ian Jones said £30m would be spent on the Rowley Campus and around £20m in Smethwick.

"Site exploration work could begin this month with the intention of work starting later this summer," he said. "However, legal and financial contracts have to be finalised first."

It was announced last month that private company Environments for Learning had been awarded the building contract.