Sports college for Fazakerley completed
Willmott Dixon has finished work on the £18m Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College in Fazakerley, which will be officially opened by Mayor Joe Anderson on Friday.
The school, which will educate 1,200 pupils, has been built on the former Long Lane council depot.
Archbishop Beck College will relocate from its current site on Cedar Road, Walton.
The new school was designed by architects Sheppard Robson and was engineered by Mouchel.
Willmott Dixon won the contract to build the secondary school for Liverpool City Council in March 2013, as part of the local authority's ongoing programme to rescue projects that stalled when Building Schools for the Future collapsed in 2010.
Anderson said: "The Archbishop Beck Catholic Sports College is a fantastic new facility which will provide thousands of young people with a fantastic education in great surroundings.
"I am really pleased that so many of the subcontracts were awarded to Liverpool firms, meaning that we have been able to recycle millions of pounds back into the city's economy.
"It is also good to see Willmott Dixon have been training the tradespeople of tomorrow by employing apprentices as part of this scheme."
Anthony Dillon, managing director for Willmott Dixon in the North West said: "We're very proud of what we have created with Archbishop Beck, which comes just over a year after we handed over Notre Dame, another brilliant new school for Liverpool.
"As with Notre Dame Catholic College, a key focus was supporting local jobs and companies and I'm pleased to say building Archbishop Beck gave another major boost with 70% of the gross development value spent in the local economy and supply chain. It will be the same approach with Archbishop Blanch, where we are on site now."
Lets hope its not empty and closed down in a few years like Parklands in Speke………… Or empty like Esla. But the city does need more schools doesnt it?
By Hmm
If you live in Fazakerley, you’re not going to want to travel to Speke or Garston for college. Northenders need learnin’ too you know!
By mancboi
Sorry Mancboi – I was never suggesting that the Northenders should have to travel to Speke or Garston to be educated – that would not work. I was asking the question as to whether they (the council) had done the relevant checks for whether the school was actually needed, whether there was the appetite for pupils to attend – seeing as they had not seemed to have done this with ESLA or Parklands -so I wouldnt want another school which is fabulous, but empty or or closed whilst the council and subsequently the council tax payers pay for the empty school. Joe keeps saying he ‘gets no money from London’ and thats why he has to build on parks, sell parks etc. But maybe a bit more thought and he may not have to do this? Just my thoughts. Does he really need 12 new schools for Liverpool or is it because he has promised them that he needs them?
By Hmm
These Schools aren’t new in that sense – they are new buildings for existing schools that are replacing schools that already exist but are currently too small or in a poor condition. You can see this particularly well with the new St Hildas by Sefton Park and Archbishop Blanch on Smithdown Road
By Andrew