Education Estates 2025: Surrey County Council Share Their SEND Provision Strategy, Including the Contribution Made by TG Escapes

At the recent Education Estates 2025 conference, I was proud to join Euan Leslie, Programme Manager for our partners Surrey County Council as we presented their ambitious and highly successful strategy for expanding Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision across the county. The presentation, "Modern Methods, Inclusive Futures," offered a detailed look at how Surrey is tackling the critical demand for specialist learning spaces and how TG Escapes has played a key role in their success.

Addressing a Critical Need in Surrey

The challenge faced by Surrey County Council is one echoed across the UK: a growing demand for high-quality SEND spaces that outstrips current capacity. This shortfall was leading to a significant number of students being placed in costly out-of-area provisions, at an average additional expense of £30,000 per pupil.
In response, the council launched its SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Capital Programmes in 2021. This transformative initiative, backed by a £260m investment, aims to create 2,400 new SEND and AP places, allowing children to receive the specialist support they need within their own communities.

Overview of their Approach

Strategy: To engage with the schools’ community and identify opportunities for the development and expansion of SEND provision across the County, to generate a creative mix of refurbishment and new build solutions in both specialist and mainstream schools.
Mainstream Inclusion: Create flexible, purpose-built SEND hubs (‘Units’) within mainstream settings, or SRP’s (Specialist Resourced Provision), utilising existing spare capacity.
Benefits:
- Meeting demand by providing high-quality, affordable, sustainable SEND place provision.
- Allowing students to access a broad education close to home that meets specific needs.
- Saving significant expense by avoiding independent provider fees and eliminating out-of-area transport costs.

A Blended Strategy with MMC at its Core

Surrey’s strategy adopted a blended approach, combining the refurbishment of existing buildings with new-build projects. A significant proportion of the new construction projects have utilised Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), with the council recognising its unique advantages for delivering educational facilities.
MMC was chosen for its ability to accelerate programme delivery, minimise disruption on live school sites, and provide viable solutions for constrained or challenging locations. TG Escapes was selected as a key delivery partner, with our panelised modular system proving the perfect fit for creating the bespoke, high-quality, and sustainable environments the council envisioned.

The breakdown of construction solutions is:

-£44m new build MMC/Modular construction
(25 projects: 565 places)
-£62m refurbishment and extension projects
(41 projects: 945 places)
- £164m new build with traditional contractors, of which c.£34m are using MMC panellised systems (eg Streiff)
(16 projects: 1020 places of which 4 MMC projects: 137 places)

Partnership in Action: Delivering Bespoke SEND Environments

Our collaboration with Surrey County Council has resulted in the delivery of four distinct, purpose-built SEND facilities within mainstream school settings, each designed to meet a specific set of needs.

Woking High School – The Liz Kyriacou Building: A purpose-built unit to increase capacity for Visually Impaired (VI) students. A key feature of this project was the delivery of superior acoustics that exceed BB93 SEN standards, which is critical for students who rely on enhanced hearing. Read the full case study.

Stepgates Community School This 369m² facility was designed to support primary school students with complex social and communication needs. The building includes three classrooms, sensory spaces, and a hygiene room, with floor-to-ceiling glass doors providing direct access to outdoor learning areas. Our panelised system was crucial in overcoming the challenges of limited site access. Read the full case study.

St Matthew's CofE Primary School To allow the school to expand its outstanding SEND provision to younger pupils, we delivered a dedicated, self-contained unit for Key Stage 1. The building, which is net-zero in operation, includes a classroom, sensory room, calming room, and an external sensory play area.

St John the Baptist School – The Aquinas Centre A new, inclusive learning hub for secondary-age pupils with additional needs. This self-contained, net-zero in operation building will provide classrooms and breakout spaces in a bio-diverse landscape, fostering a supportive and calming learning environment.

Measurable Results and a More Inclusive Future

The success of this partnership speaks for itself. Together, we have delivered 1399m² of new, purpose-built SEND space across Surrey, integrating bespoke, modern facilities into mainstream settings to reduce barriers and foster true inclusion.
The council’s forward-thinking blended estates strategy, utilising MMC partners like TG Escapes, is bringing Surrey closer to its goal of providing sufficient, high-quality local places for all children with special needs. This approach not only delivers better educational outcomes but also provides financial assurance and supports families by reducing transport times and keeping communities together.

To find out more about how TG Escapes can help you deliver outstanding SEND facilities, please get in touch with our team.