A CEREMONY has taken place to celebrate the topping out of the £44 million Riverside Campus – the UK’s largest ever off-site education project.

The York-based Portakabin Group is constructing the innovative three-school campus for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, using a Yorkon off-site solution.

Topping out is a tradition in the construction industry to bestow good luck on the new building when a structure reaches its advanced stages.

Portakabin has just craned the last of 387 modules into position on the Riverside site. To mark this important milestone in the project, a steel beam was signed by school children, construction workers and dignitaries, and will later be lifted and secured into the atrium roof.

The occasion was also celebrated with the announcement of the winners of an art competition. Simon Ambler, director of the Portakabin Group, presented four students with vouchers for art equipment and their stunning artwork will now be prepared for permanent display around the campus when the school opens.

Mr Ambler said: “We have today reached another important milestone in this fantastic project. We are absolutely delighted with the progress since the ground breaking just a few months ago, which is a credit to everyone involved.

The 23,000-sq metre Riverside Campus will accommodate 2,645 children from 0-19 years, integrating provision for nursery, primary, special needs, secondary, and sixth form pupils. The Portakabin Group is the main contractor for this pioneering educational project, which is funded by the Department for Education.

The scheme is one of the largest education developments now under construction in the UK and will create much needed additional places for one of the fastest growing school-age populations in the country.

The use of a Yorkon off-site solution has significantly reduced the programme time for earlier completion of the campus, allowing the structure to be manufactured in York at the same time as the major groundworks took place on site.