Kier starts on £44.9m Wellfield Academy

Part of the Department for Education’s Gen Zero Pathfinder programme, the 900-place secondary school’s structure will be made of cross-laminated timber.

Kier Construction will deliver the replacement Wellfield Academy through phases, with the final one due to complete in 2028. The project, which will see the demolition of five of the current campus’s six buildings, sits off Yewlands Drive in Leyland. The sports hall is the only retained structure in the project.

The five razed buildings will be replaced with two totalling 70,400 sq ft. The two new-build structures comprise a three-storey teaching block and a two-storey commons block connected at the first-floor level.

Designed by AHR, the blocks will boast science labs, classrooms, music rooms, a library, assembly hall, dining hall, drama studios, sensory rooms, and more.

As part of being a Gen Zero pathfinder, the new school has been designed in such a way as to reduce the amount of carbon generated through its construction as well as to be energy efficient once operational.

To that end, it will include a bio-solar roof with solar panels and ground source heat pumps. It has been designed to utilise natural ventilation and to have enhanced airtightness.

The ground has been broken for the delivery of Wellfield Academy. Credit: via Kier Construction

Jamie Lewis, headteacher at Wellfield Academy, praised the design.

“When completed, our school will be the most modern, best-equipped school in the area and we’re excited about what this will mean for our young people and generations to come,” Lewis said.

“We look forward to welcoming pupils and families to our new school next year.”

Sarah Morton, regional director for Kier Construction North & Scotland, described the future Wellfield Academy as “a landmark GenZero project that will help define the future of sustainable school design.”

She continued: “GenZero is about more than reducing carbon – it is about rethinking how schools are designed, built and operated to create highly efficient, future-ready environments.

“By combining low carbon materials such as mass timber with advanced energy systems and modern methods of construction, this project will set a new benchmark for education buildings.”

Kier won the £44.9m contract through DfE’s Construction Framework 2021. The contract, which began in May, ends November 2028.

In addition to AHR, the project team includes Kier’s in-house civil and structural engineering company, Kier Design. Also on the team: Ares, Eurban, OFR, Dodds, and MZA.

You can view the application for the school, which won the approval of South Ribble Council’s planning committee in December, by searching reference 07/2025/00761/FUL on the local authority’s planning portal.