Design team on board for new high school

The brand new Bexhill High is being built by East Sussex County Council with 33m from the Government's 'Building Schools for the Future programme' and 4m from the council's own funds.

School head Mike Conn told the Observer this week, "things are moving at a tremendous pace."

Following a mini competition, a design team led by Kier Regional has been selected to progress the feasibility and outline design.

The Kier team, including architects Devereux LHC and technical consultants White Young Green, will work with the school and the county council to develop the options for the school to translate the school's vision into designs.

Mr Conn said: "We should soon be at a stage where we can come up with the first complete design. It is all looking pretty good and we are at the concept stage.

"It is a 'path finder' project and it is about transformation, so it is going to have to be radically different.

"There will be lots more time for students working with teachers and support staff as partners rather deliverers of learning.

"It will be much more like a university campus.

"We open on September 1, 2010, and whatever that takes we will deal with. The next stage is to play around with the drawings."

Cllr Keith Glazier, the county council's lead member for children's and adults' services said: "This is another key milestone for the new Bexhill High School. I look forward to working with the Kier team as it will complement the strong team we have already established internally.

We now have all the components in place to forge ahead with this extremely exciting project."

During the process there will be several further consultations with stakeholders, parents, pupils, residents and community groups to develop a design that Bexhill and East Sussex can be proud of.