Pupils kick-start £17m Stockland Green Technology College building
Oct 27 2009 by Tony Collins, Birmingham Post
The star pupils of a Birmingham secondary school helped lay the foundations for their future by kickstarting their new £17 million building.
The Stockland Green Technology College in Slade Road, Erdington, took a major step closer to completion when head girl Kirsty Maguire and head boy Nick Stamp laid the first bricks on the site.
The new school, which is due to open in January 2011, is one of the first projects under Birmingham City Council’s 15-year Building Schools for the Future programme.
To mark the occasion, Kirsty and Nick were invited to try their hands at bricklaying by the Birmingham Local Education Partnership, which is delivering the programme, and construction partner Bovis Lend Lease.
The pupils were accompanied by the college’s acting head teacher Neil Wallace while the bricklaying ceremony was also attended by Erdington MP and education minister Sion Simon.
Mr Wallace said: “These are exciting times for Stockland Green and it is very inspiring watching the future emerge in front of our eyes now that the construction work is under way.
“The new school will ensure that our students have a stimulating learning environment matched to meet the needs of 21st century education.”
Mr Simon said he was delighted to be present at the start of the rebuild of Stockland Green Technology College. “It is really important that all our children have a modern, state-of-the-art and safe environment in which to reach their full potential, which is exactly the reason why the Government have made such a huge commitment, both financially and in terms of policy, to Building Schools for the Future.
“The head teacher, staff and pupils have all worked very hard over recent years to build educational standards and this is reflected in their consistently improved results.
“But Stockland Green Technology College is about more than just its results, it is about a supportive environment in which every pupil is encouraged to do their very best and secure the best possible future, as well as growing as individuals.”
Stockland Green is one of 15 schools to be built in the first phase of the Birmingham BSF programme. The overall goal of the national programme is to rebuild and refurbish every secondary school in the country, to maximise teaching and learning potential and create facilities accessible for the whole community including after hours, weekends and holidays.
Sustainability will be a strong feature of the new 7,300 square metre Stockland Green college, as well as the other BSF schools in Birmingham, with biomass boilers and solar panels in the design. Schools will also be equipped with rainwater harvesting tanks to supplement the mains water supplies required to flush toilets.
Charles McLeod, head of BSF at Catalyst Lend Lease, the council’s private sector partner in the Local Education Partnership, said: “It’s exciting to have the college involved in this way and we look forward to many similar significant milestones in the coming years. We want Stockland Green to be a beacon for the city’s BSF programme.”
