Graham’s £37m Castle Rock School upgrade: phasing and logistics notes for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Graham has secured a £37m Department for Education contract to redevelop The Castle Rock School secondary and sixth form campus in Coalville, Leicestershire. The scheme includes a new two-storey teaching block, refurbishment and remodelling of a retained building, and demolition of several ageing blocks to create higher quality accommodation for up to 1,550 pupils. Works also cover new outdoor learning areas, a three-court MUGA, additional sports pitches and wider site upgrades, with implications for phased construction and tight live-school logistics.
Technical Brief
- Refurbishment and remodelling of the retained building will demand intrusive surveys and careful interface detailing with new structures.
- New outdoor learning and play areas plus three-court MUGA require coordinated drainage, lighting and surface specification design.
- Additional sports pitches will drive earthworks balancing, topsoil management and potential pitch drainage system installation.
- Wider site upgrades open scope for rationalising utilities, fire access routes and safeguarding-compliant perimeter treatments.
Our Take
Within our 460 Infrastructure stories, school and education projects in the United Kingdom tend to sit in the sub‑£50m band, so The Castle Rock School scheme keeps John Graham Construction positioned in the mid‑tier social infrastructure market rather than at the mega‑project end.
A three‑court MUGA at The Castle Rock School signals that the Department for Education is still prioritising multi‑use outdoor sports provision in its estate upgrades, which often drives more complex groundworks, drainage and surfacing packages than standard playground refurbishments.
Graham’s repeat work with the DfE in Coalville and wider Leicestershire is likely to help it in upcoming framework or batch‑procurement rounds, as our database shows that contractors with recent regional delivery for a central government client are more frequently shortlisted on subsequent education lots.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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