Morgan Sindall signed for Shoreditch school and leisure centre

Morgan Sindall has been selected as preferred bidder for the first phase of Hackney Council’s mixed-use community development.The proposals for the site next to Shoreditch Park, bordered by Pitfield Street and Hyde Road, comprise a new leisure centre and a secondary school, along with associated infrastructure works.Hackney Council has signed a pre-construction services agreement with Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure, which was chosen via the Southern Construction Framework.The new leisure centre will be located on existing outdoor asphalt courts, while the academy will be built on the site of the current Britannia Leisure Centre site and car park. The current leisure centre will close after the new one is open.The new school will provide a permanent home for the City of London Academy Shoreditch Park, which opened at a temporary site last year. It will have capacity for 1,100 pupils.Landscaping will see trees planted and fences replaced with hedges. Walking and cycle routes will also be improved.Subject to planning permission, work is expected to start on the new leisure centre in spring 2019 and on the school in summer 2019.A second phase of the wider scheme is the construction of housing in blocks ranging from four to 25 storeys, to fund the development.The council estimates construction for the complete scheme will cost £90m, including £40m for the new leisure centre.