School rebuild is like Lego project, say builders

Construction work has begun to replace a junior school and its pupils will be able to watch as it is built in "Lego form", its developers said.

Firside Junior School, in Norwich, was built in 1937 and will be replaced with a two-storey building constructed from modules, which will be transported and bolted together on the school's playing field.

The Wensum Trust, which runs the school, said it had already invested more than £300,000 since 2016 to keep the original building safe including, roof and window repairs and a new boiler.

Executive head teacher Rosalind Robinson said: "When this school was built it was innovative, it was perfect for the time - and times have moved on."

The school, in the Hellesdon area of the city, is being built as part of the national School Rebuilding Programme which was established by the previous Conservative government in 2020 with the aim to rebuild or refurbish about 500 schools in a decade.

There are currently 524 projects in the programme, with Firside being one of seven in Norfolk, including Smithdon High in Hunstanton and Hewett Academy in Norwich.

The current Labour government pledged £2.4bn a year towards the rebuilding programme as part of a spending review announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in June 2025.

Kieran Healy, the project director from the Department for Education (DfE), attended a ground-breaking ceremony on Wednesday and said the Firside building had been chosen to be rebuilt as it was no longer fit for purpose.

He said: "To use the loos you have to go outside so in the winter we've got pupils going into the cold and everything else.

"It's not fit for purpose. It might have been in 1937, this is the 21st Century.

"There's a point where those buildings are so run down, the costs every year that are going back into that estate it's not cost-effective."

When asked by the BBC, the DfE would not confirm how much the total project is expected to cost.

Construction of the school, which currently has 345 pupils, has started to take shape and modules will be made in a factory to reduce construction time and the amount of disruption at the school.

Danny Taylor, the senior project manager for Reds10, the construction firm leading the scheme, described the school as being made in "Lego form".

He said: "What we'll have is many, many lorries coming up the road bringing in the modules, craned into position, we'll bolt them all together and within a few days you'll see there is a school here from nothing and it is quite amazing to see."

Plans for the project were submitted to Broadland District Council in 2023 and approved in April last year, with work expected to be completed by February 2028.

With a majority of construction work taking place off-site, the school has been able to stay open with minimal disruption.

Abi Taylor, a project manager at Reds10, said: "Making sure the school is comfortable and happy throughout is one of our main focuses and also the local community as well.

"Obviously with the nature of modular it is less disruptive to a site given that most of the deliveries are made off site.

"The speed we are building these buildings is just amazing."

The school, which is rated as good by Ofsted, will have a number of new facilities and will be able to cater for 350 pupils and 31 members of staff.

The new building will have a new assembly and dining hall, practical rooms for science and food technology, new play areas and a new drop-off and pick up zone from Middleton's Lane.

Robinson described it as a "school for the future".

She said: "The facilities we'll get with the new build will outstrip what we have here now. A dedicated art room, classrooms that are built to be classrooms.

"We've had to divide rooms up, we've had to create spaces where there wasn't really any space. All that is now going to be purpose built. It really is a school for the future for the whole of the Hellesdon community."

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