Solihull Schools BSF

Bam Construction Limited

Redevelopment of four schools within north Solihull as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. Each project involved the development of a new school on the playing fields followed by the demolition of the existing buildings and reinstatement of the land to playing fields.

Location: Solihull
Status: Project completed
Size: Four schools
Scale: Site

Following our input into the BSF bid which included detailing the planning process, providing a planning strategy and meeting with the local authority, our client was selected as the preferred bidder. Our client had a requirement to submit four planning applications for replacement schools within a very tight timescale as dictated by Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council.

Each project involved the construction of a new school building on existing playing fields with one school experiencing an overall loss in playable sports pitches.
Following successful negotiations with Sport England during pre-application discussions no objections were raised to the proposals at Planning Committee.

Three of the schools required Multiple Use Games Areas (MUGAs) with one school requiring a floodlit Artificial Turf Pitch (ATP) for both school and community use. Strategic and technical advice was provided to secure planning permission for these uses in largely residential and sensitive areas.

Crucially, we overcame difficult green belt issues for one of the schools. This involved the development of the new school on land designated as green belt with the site of the existing school being reinstated to playing fields. We were able to demonstrate very special circumstances in that the proposed development would benefit both the school and the local community.

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