With the addition of a new major housing development comprising of 1,200 homes, the council approached Morgan Sindall and Lungfish to support them in the delivery of a primary school to accommodate more than 200 pupils from the new, growing community. As a one form-entry primary school, the new Highfields Spencer Academy will offer 210 pupil places and a 26-place nursery. The single-storey school will be of modular design and constructed offsite, allowing for the construction to run concurrently with the groundworks, shortening the project build. This approach will also benefit the local community, which is already experiencing a high volume of construction traffic, as the majority of construction will be offsite, keeping disruption to the site and surrounding areas to a minimum. Our design for the school boasts eight spacious classrooms, a landscape garden and a ‘habitat area’ for a bio-diverse outdoor learning zone, allowing the pupils to engage and interact with the external environment, increasing their stimulation and creating the opportunity for them to gain practical hands-on learning. Internally, the large classrooms will feature a modern and bright design throughout, creating positive and engaging learning environments. The building will provide an effective healthy indoor environment with natural day-lighting and ventilation along with thermal comfort and acoustics which have been designed to support educational attainment. Outside, the school will have great sporting facilities with a hard play area, marked netball and basketball courts, and a large grass football pitch. The nursery and reception class entrances will have external canopies, as will the main entrance to provide weather protection and covered outdoor play.