Refurbishment approved for Knole Academy

24 June 2013

Willmott Dixon will deliver a new future for Knole Academy in Kent after receiving the go-ahead for a contract valued at £16.7 million to create new, refurbished accommodation to expand the range of curricular and extra-curricular opportunities for students.

Working with the architect Hunters, Willmott Dixon, which has a local office in Dartford, has agreed a contract that will see it complete a range of new facilities by the start of term in September 2014.

New features will include a high-specification outdoor climbing wall, conference and performance space that can seat up to 300, a recording studio, a Sixth Form Centre, a Business, Economics and ICT area, ‘A' level Physics, Chemistry and Biology laboratories, and new graphics and art suite. Also included is an all-weather pitch with the capacity to hold three five-a-side football courts, which will open in August.

Most of these facilities will be contained in a new three-storey building, while Willmott Dixon will also refurbish and convert a range of areas within the existing academy buildings to provide a dance studio and a fitness suite, while, it says, improving the history, geography and languages areas with a new suite of rooms. The result will be an academy with facilities for 1,550 students.