DEMOLITION of existing school buildings and development of a replacement school is planned for a Durham school following the discovery of RAAC last year.

Many students at St Leonards Catholic School, in North End, Durham have been taught in temporary accommodation since the discovery of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) since its discovery in 2023.

The plans include works to the retained Springwell Hall, along with car parking, hard and soft landscaping including works to trees, replacement playing pitches, and access arrangements.

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The proposals seek to urgently reunite the school within a permanent, high quality new facility at a single site.

The Department for Education’s School Rebuilding Programme was set up to address the needs of schools in need of major rebuilding or refurbishment.

BAM Construction Ltd has been selected by the DfE to deliver the new school at St Leonard’s Catholic School.

The proposed development involves the partial demolition of the existing school buildings (excluding Springwell Hall and the Sixth Form building), and the construction of a new state-of-the-art new school.

Springwell Hall and the Sixth Form block, which are each unaffected by RAAC, are to be retained as part of the proposed development.

The application site covers an area of approximately 3.8 ha and the new building has a gross internal area of 9,950 sqm.

The development provides a new three-storey school building to the west of the school site which will replace the existing disused and RAAC-affected buildings once they are demolished.

Springwell Hall will be reconfigured, refurbished and utilised as part of the redeveloped campus.

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The new school building will include a sports hall, assembly hall and dining hall as well as wide range of departments, including specialist teaching spaces for art, technology and music at ground floor level.

In addition, general teaching spaces for maths and English, and the other core curriculum subjects including science labs will be provided on the upper floors.

The plans aim to provide good functional linkages and the creation of a coherent overall ‘campus’ feel.