Go-ahead for £300m Buckinghamshire super prison

The Government has given the all-clear to build a £300m new Category C super prison in Buckinghamshire.Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has granted planning for the prison which will contain nearly 1,500 inmates at the site next to the existing HMP Springhill and HMP Grendon sites .The plan is part of the Government’s new prisons programme, for which the Government has committed over £4bn capital funding to accommodate up to 18,000 additional inmates across the prison estate by the mid-2020s.The delayed programme is now stepping up following the go-ahead at the end of last year for Wates’s £300m HMP Gartree 2 Category B super prison in Leicestershire.Mace has been advising on the proposals for the Grendon Springhill 2 Category C resettlement prison that involve building six house blocks with supporting facilities such as kitchen workshops and a central services hub.Each house block would be four storeys in height and house 240 prisoners.Before construction can get underway demolition of the existing education block associated with HMP Springhill prison is required and a new sports pitch will be installed to serve the existing prison.During the construction phase around 100 jobs will be created, along with an injection of over £77m into the local economy.