Morgan Sindall has started the £12 million transformation of Ridgeway High School in the Noctorum area of Birkenhead.

The project is one of 12 schools being rebuilt by the company under the Education Funding Agency‘s (EFA) Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) which aims to provide purpose-built school buildings to those in most need of urgent repair.

Owing to the site’s profile in Birkenhead, the buildings are arranged around three terraces and are set within the existing playing fields which are retained for sports and recreation use.

New utilities, including an electricity substation which supplies power to local homes and the school, will also be built.

Morgan Sindall’s contracts manager Richard Potts, said: “Starting on site is a key milestone in any project and it is great to get underway at Ridgeway. We have delivered many new school buildings around the region and we are sure that the local community will be very proud of the new school which will emerge over the coming months.”

Cllr Tony Smith, Wirral’s Cabinet Member for Children and Lifelong Learning, said: “Ridgeway is one of 260 schools in urgent need of repair that are being rebuilt or refurbished under the national Priority School’s Building Programme.

“This ambitious scheme will help the Wirral Partnership meet its 2020 pledges towards supporting academic achievement in Wirral by providing students, staff and the local community with cutting-edge facilities and technology to support students’ learning.”

Through the national PSBP programme, 261 schools will be rebuilt or have their condition needs met by the EFA, the first of which was completed in 2014. All schools within the programme will be delivered by the end of 2018.