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“Plans are being submitted for Brook Mead Academy to move to a new purpose-built 1,200-pupil site next to Stokeswood Park.”
Brook Mead Academy is moving into a new purpose-built school with sports facilities near Stokeswood Park on the corner of Fosse Road North and Groby Road.
BROOK MEAD
ACADEMY
On behalf of the Department for Education, a project team led
by Wates Group has submitted a full planning application to Leicester City Council for a new purpose-built school with sports facilities
in Stokeswood Park, on the corner of Fosse Road North and
Groby Road.
Site LAYOUT
WEBINAR REGISTRATION
The buildings will be occupied by Brook Mead Academy, which is currently housed in temporary accommodation on St Augustine Road which is an unsuitable long-term teaching environment. Combined with the significant shortfall in school places in the north-west Leicester catchment areas, new modern secondary education facilities are urgently required in this community.
What will the new school look like?
The project team has prepared detailed designs and is sharing these proposed plans with the community before submitting a planning application. We welcome your views on the scheme and encourage you to explore the project information we have provided to learn more. If you have any questions about the project, you can get in contact with the project team using the channels below.
On Monday 6th February we held a live webinar, where members of the project team presented the proposals and answered questions from the public. A recording of the webinar is available to view here.
here.
A drop-in information-sharing event was held on Wednesday 8th February at Brook Mead Academy’s existing temporary accommodation on St Augustine Road, where the project team discussed the proposals with members of the public.
You can email the project team at contact@brookmeadbuild.co.uk or call Freephone to leave a message and a member of the team will call you back.
0808 1688 296
The proposals
The northern section of Stokeswood Park has been selected as the location for the new purpose-built facilities for Brook Mead Academy, which is currently housed in temporary accommodation at St Augustine Road. You can view a site location plan here and a detailed site layout plan here. This location has been chosen to meet the growing demand for student places in the north west of the city, an area that does not have enough secondary school places.
At capacity, the facilities will accommodate 1,200 pupils across a
three-storey teaching block, housing classrooms, laboratories, and a 366-seat dining hall. You can view the proposed floor plans and elevations below:
Ground floor plan (teaching block)
First floor plan (teaching block)
Second floor plan (teaching block)
Ground floor plan (sports block)
After discussions with Leicester City Council, it has been agreed that the operational vehicular access to the school will be located on Garland Crescent. At the beginning of any construction period, vehicles will access to the site via Fosse North Road in order to build the access via Garland Crescent, after which construction traffic will also utilise for site access. The access will enter a new 117-space car park, including 7 disabled parking bays, 8 electric vehicle charging points and a space for a minibus. There will also be a drop-off/pick-up zone within the car park. Pedestrians and cyclists will also be able to securely access
the site via Garland Crescent and through additional access via the Forest Way cycleway and footpath which will continue to bisect Stokeswood Park.
Sustainability is a key concern for the project team. That’s why the scheme has been carefully designed to consider the site’s surroundings and to minimise its impact on the environment. The school will be net zero carbon in operation and in order to reduce the energy intensity of the school, the buildings will be designed to maximise utilisation of daylight and natural flows of ventilation. The teaching and sports blocks will each have a green roof and PV panels to harness renewable energy for the school.
As part of the landscaping strategy, the project will deliver a biodiversity net gain. This involves planting 40 new trees across the site, contained within new woodland habitats to create tree-lined boundaries along the site’s northern and southern limits. New planting will also include a variety of native species, focusing on flowering meadows, and new grass cover will replace the disused shrubland currently adjacent to Fosse Road North.
In addition to the teaching block, there will be a new sports block, including an activity room and changing facilities. You can view the sports block floor plan here. Outdoors on site, the proposals include two hardcourts (which can cater to netball, basketball, tennis, 5-a-side football) creating 5000m2 of space, an all-weather football pitch, and a large soft outdoor PE area for informal sports activities.
Extensive outdoor amenity space will be provided for the pupils in a secure area of the site, including outdoor seating and a garden with sensory planting. This will be located next to the food production classrooms, so that pupils can grow their own produce.
FAQs
Q1. How close will the buildings be to neighbouring properties?
Q2. Will there be cycle parking facilities?
Q3. Has a drainage strategy been prepared to mitigate
flooding?
Q4. Why is the existing site unsuitable for redevelopment?
Q5. Is there demand to meet the supply of new secondary
school places?
Q6. Is this project connected to the previous primary school
planning application?
Q7. When could construction begin? When will the facilities
be operational?
In October 2014 there were 3,880 pupils in Year 6 in Leicester, but by October 2021 that had increased to 4,895 pupils in the city. The increase in demand is seen at Avanti Fields free school and Castle Mead free school which have both opened in recent years but are already at capacity and over-subscribed. Currently, there are circa. 1,000 pupils in Leicester who are not being taught in purpose-built education facilities. In order to ensure a high-quality learning environment for these pupils, it is necessary to build a new school where demand is strongest; the north-western area of the city has the highest level of unmet demand for secondary school places.
A5.
No. This is a new project and any planning permission would
supersede the planning permission granted in 2017 for a primary school on the site.
A6.
If the planning application is granted approval, construction could
begin in Summer 2023. On current timelines it is projected that pupils could move into the buildings in February 2025.
A7.
Currently Brook Mead Academy operates within temporary accommodation which has capacity for only two year groups. If the site were to be redeveloped, it would not have the capacity to deliver the associated sports educational facilities required. This is not sustainable for the long-term and transfer to purpose-built facilities is already overdue.
A4.
A drainage strategy will be agreed as part of any planning consent and the Environment Agency will be consulted as part of this process. This will better manage drainage on the site and reduce the risk of flooding relative to the site remaining undeveloped. Measures will include a permeable surface in the car park and a rain garden which will drain rainwater from the site.
A3.
Yes, there will be 253 secured and covered cycle storage spaces provided. This represents a place for 1 in 5 pupils and 1 in 10 members of staff onsite.
A2.
There will be a continuous perimeter around the teaching block for security and safety. New planting will create a tree-lined woodland buffer on the northern and southern boundaries, to mitigate the noise, light and visual impacts from the new buildings. Additionally, on the northern boundary there will be an 8-metre buffer between the buildings and the brook.
A1.
Click on a question to reveal the answer
Email us at contact@brookmeadbuild.co.uk
Call our Freephone number on 0808 1688 296
Do you have any questions?
Supply of secondary school places in Leicester has failed to meet demand, particularly in the north west of the city. With new purpose-built education facilities hosting Brook Mead Academy, more pupils in Leicester can move out of temporary accommodation and into a high-quality learning environment.
Accessed via Garland Crescent, the school contains a 117-space onsite car park and drop-off/pick-up zone.
A new garden with sensory planting will be an opportunity for pupils to grow their own produce as part of their studies.
The proposals will include extensive amenity space and outdoor sports facilities, including an all-weather 3G pitch and 6 hard surface courts, suitable for netball, basketball and tennis.”
Supply of secondary school places in Leicester has failed to meet demand, particularly in the north west of the city. With new purpose-built education facilities hosting Brook Mead Academy, more pupils in Leicester can move out of temporary accommodation and into a high-quality learning environment.
Accessed via Garland Crescent, the school contains a 117-space onsite car park and drop-off/pick-up zone.
A new garden with sensory planting will be an opportunity for pupils to grow their own produce as part of their studies.
The proposals will include extensive amenity space and outdoor sports facilities, including an all-weather 3G pitch and 6 hard surface courts, suitable for netball, basketball and tennis.
0808 1688 296
net zero carbon in operation
biodiversity net gain.
planting 40 new trees
new woodland habitats
tree-lined boundaries
sports block,
new
zero carbon
net
in operation
biodiversity net gain.
planting 40 new trees
new woodland habitats
tree-lined
boundaries
new sports block,
Watch the webinar recording
The proposals
0808 1688 296
