Further and Higher Education

In most cases, yes. A permanent teaching building on a college or university campus normally needs planning permission, just as a traditional build would. We handle the full application for you, acting as principal designer and principal contractor, and our in-house architects prepare the drawings and supporting documents. We have managed planning on education sites across the UK for 23 years, including projects within live, occupied campuses. We will tell you early what your site is likely to allow, so there are no surprises later in the programme.

Yes. We design and build single and two-storey teaching blocks, not just standalone classrooms. That lets you add significant capacity on a constrained campus footprint, whether you need a sixth-form centre, a science and skills block, a lecture theatre or a large dining hall. Our 600m² dining hall at Trinity Sixth Form College is one example, completed in five months while the site stayed fully occupied. Every building is bespoke, so the layout, circulation and services are designed around how your students and staff will actually use the space.

Our buildings are permanent. They are timber-frame structures designed in accordance with Eurocode 0 for a 50+ year design life, built to the same standards as traditional construction. They are not hire-and-return cabins or temporary mobile units. That means you own the building, place it on your asset register, and avoid the rising costs and return dates that come with hired accommodation. Much of the build still happens off-site in our workshop, so you get the speed of modular construction with the permanence and quality of a traditional building.

Yes. Alongside capital funding, framework procurement and the Condition Improvement Fund for eligible colleges, we offer a lease-funded route. It spreads the cost over a 10-year term with no upfront capital investment, subject to your college’s own approvals. Because our buildings are designed for a 50+ year life, you have roughly 40 years of useful life remaining once the lease ends. It is one of several routes we will talk through with your finance team, so you can choose what suits your capital position.

We are accessible through several public-sector procurement routes, so your team has a compliant path to appoint us. These include the UK Leisure Framework, Everything Estates and Constellia. We are happy to work alongside your procurement and estates consultants, and to provide the documentation they need to evidence value and compliance. If you are unsure which route fits your project value and governance arrangements, we can talk it through at the feasibility stage.

Yes. Specialist spaces such as science labs, art studios, workshops and IT suites need different ceiling heights, services, ventilation and acoustics than a standard teaching room. Our in-house architects and structural engineers design these requirements in from the start, rather than retrofitting them. If your project needs detailed structural input, our structural engineering services team can support your wider design team directly. The result is a building shaped around your curriculum and equipment, not a generic shell you have to adapt.

It depends on the size and complexity of the building, so we avoid quoting a fixed number of weeks. What we can say is that modular construction is significantly faster than traditional building, because much of the work happens off-site in our workshop while groundworks proceed in parallel on your campus. That shortens the time we spend on site and reduces disruption to teaching. We can often work within a live, occupied campus rather than only during holidays. At feasibility stage we will give you a realistic programme for your specific project.

Our modular buildings are designed for a 50+ year lifespan, in accordance with Eurocode 0, with minimal upkeep. That is comparable to a traditional masonry build and far beyond the life of temporary or hired modular units. The timber-frame structure carries a 10-year warranty, the single-ply roof membrane a 25-year warranty, and fixtures and fittings a 1-year warranty. With routine maintenance, these buildings are long-term assets for your estate rather than a short-term fix.