THE York-based Portakabin Group has handed over the first phase of a £44 million school development in London which will be the UK’s largest free school campus.

Constructed using a Yorkon off-site solution, the new special educational needs (SEN) school for Riverside Bridge in the Borough of Barking and Dagenhamhas doubled its capacity in time for the start of the 2016/17 academic year, providing much-needed additional places at an earlier stage.

The SEN scheme is part of the 23,000 sq m Riverside Campus – an innovative new three-school campus which will accommodate 2,645 children aged up to 19. It will integrate provision for nursery, primary, special needs, secondary, and sixth-form pupils. The second and final phase will be handed over by Portakabin in late spring 2017.

Off-site construction allowed the structure to be manufactured in York at the same time as the major ground works were progressed on site and created a high-quality, watertight structure for fitting out much earlier in the build programme.

Anna Hope, head of school at Riverside Bridge, said: “This is an outstanding building and educational environment for special-needs children. The Portakabin team have also been so mindful of the children’s wellbeing as this is still a live construction site.

“They worked around the clock to complete the floor above us as far as possible to avoid noise which could upset the children once we had moved in. And site deliveries have been restricted to avoid the times when our children arrive and leave the school.”

Jane Hargreaves, Strategic Director of Education at London Borough of Barking and Dagenham said, “Portakabin has been easy to work with, and the scheme has been on target to the advantage of our special-needs students.”

Portakabin phased the construction programme to allow the SEN school to open on its new site ahead of the other buildings at Riverside Campus.

The scheme is the seventh school building contract awarded to Portakabin by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and follows on from two earlier phases at a school near to the Riverside Campus.