Morgan Sindall’s Burnside PRU rebuild: phasing, fabric and safety notes for designers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Morgan Sindall Construction has begun a £16.2m, three-phase rebuild of the Burnside Secondary Pupil Referral Unit in Chingford, delivering two new blocks totalling 1,815 m² – a teaching block with six multi-purpose classrooms, a science lab and art & design studio, plus a hall and sports block with sports hall, dining room, food tech and fitness rooms – linked by a glazed corridor. Existing single-storey buildings will be demolished sequentially to keep the 48-place PRU operational, with handovers from late 2026 to spring 2028, and safeguarding measures including controlled public interaction and privacy in play areas. The design uses closed panel timber for insulation, solar PV, an air source heat pump system for net-zero operational carbon, and robust, damage-resistant finishes with muted colours and lighting to support pupil wellbeing.
Technical Brief
- Phased demolition of three existing single-storey blocks is sequenced to maintain PRU operations and supervision.
- Subsequent phases construct the adjacent block and then complete hard/soft landscaping, limiting exposed construction interfaces to pupils.
- Site logistics are arranged to minimise public interaction with pupils during and after works, tightening perimeter control.
- External areas, including the new MUGA, are configured to preserve visual privacy from public routes and neighbouring properties.
- Muted colour schemes and controlled lighting levels are used as behavioural design tools to de-escalate stress and aggression.
Our Take
Within our 605 Infrastructure stories, only a small subset focus on pupil referral units in London, so the £16.2m Burnside Secondary PRU scheme positions Morgan Sindall Construction as one of the more visible contractors in this specialist education niche.
A delivery window stretching from late 2026 to spring 2028 is at the longer end for a sub-£20m school rebuild in our database, which likely reflects the constraints of working in a dense London borough like Waltham Forest and the need to phase works around vulnerable 11–16-year-old pupils.
The demolition of three single-storey buildings to create a six-classroom PRU aligns with a pattern in recent UK education projects where DfE-backed schemes in the Northern Home Counties prioritise modern, compact footprints that can meet safeguarding and sustainability standards on tight urban sites.
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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