Kensington Aldridge Academy

Following the unfolding of the tragic events on 14 June, the Education Skills and Funding Agency (ESFA) approached consultancy and construction group Mace and modular experts Portakabin to provide a new building for the pupils of Kensington Aldridge Academy, which is located at the base of Grenfell Tower.

Working closely with the ESFA and Mace, engineers at Portakabin designed a temporary six block school, located in North Kensington, just over a mile from the school’s permanent location. “Portakabin and Mace have worked closely to deliver this temporary school to ensure that the pupils of KAA have access to suitable facilities for the next twelve months. It has been a hugely emotional project to work on. It’s been very moving to see everyone in the supply chain move heaven and earth to deliver a fully functioning school for nearly 1,000 pupils. This is a real testament to what you can do when every member of a team is pulling in the same direction.”

Phoebe Leach, Project Director, Mace

“The whole project, although incredibly fast, was orderly, planned, on programme; hitting all milestones even after the design repeatedly evolved and was safe – speed was not used as an excuse to relax quality, safety or proper governance.” Taking into account the tragic reason behind the project, specialist areas dedicated to providing enhanced counselling facilities for students affected by the tragedy were added, and external vinyl artwork was applied to the building itself, to foster familiarity for the students. The colour scheme remained consistent throughout and furniture from the school on Silchester Road was moved into the new building.

For all intents and purposes, it was a like-for-like replacement school, delivered in time for the start of term with zero compromise on quality. In August 2018, 62% of all A Level results were A*-B and 99.6% A*-E. Nearly 100% of students were able to secure competitive university places.

“I want to congratulate everyone involved in moving Kensington Aldridge Academy to their new site. It is an incredible achievement to build a school of this scale in record-breaking time after such tragic events. It was hugely impressive to see all the organisations involved working together under pressure to deliver a project of this magnitude successfully and minimise the disruption it caused to pupils.”

Justine Greening, Former Education Secretary