A secondary school is celebrating the latest milestone of a £5.5 million redevelopment project to transform dilapidated facilities and increase pupil numbers.

Saint George's Church of England School in Gravesend held a small-scale topping out ceremony to mark the completion of the steel frame structure for the new teaching block.

It will provide much-needed teaching spaces for English, maths, music, modern foreign languages and media, as well as a new dance and drama studio and a sixth form centre. It will allow the school to expand pupil capacity from 900 to 1,050 across Years 7 to 11 by 2027.

Property and construction consultancy Ingleton Wood is part of the project, and helped the school secure funding through Section 106 contributions from Kent County Council and a successful Condition Improvement Fund bid from the Department for Education.

The low-key ceremony marked the last steel beam being put into place of the three-storey building. Some pupils inscribed their names on the beam.

Work started in August 2020 and is set to be complete by January 2022.

Saint George's executive head teacher Stephen Carey said: “We have worked tirelessly to bring together funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency and Kent County Council to deliver this significant and impressive project.

“We are delighted to celebrate with project managers Ingleton Wood and contractors Beardwell Construction such an important milestone in this much-needed redevelopment of facilities at Saint George’s Church of England School for the benefit of the Gravesham community.

“The design of the new spaces will allow even greater creativity and active engagement in the lessons provided.

"The new sixth form centre will allow students the facilities they need to continue to excel and to support them in adapting to the most up-to-date version of learning and working environments.

"We look forward to continuing working with our project partners and stakeholders.”

The next phase includes the start of the superstructure masonry work and the completion of the roof structure.

Ingleton Wood associate Andrew Marchant said: “We are very pleased to have reached this important milestone of the major redevelopment which will bolster provision in the local area whilst providing first-class facilities to match the standard of education at Saint George's Church of England School.

“Our multi-disciplinary teams are working seamlessly through the Covid-19 restrictions and are working collaboratively with project partners and stakeholders to ensure the work remains on programme and to budget.”

Brigita Davidonyte, project contracts manager at Beardwell Construction, said: “We are a leading regional contractor committed to working closely with the clients and communities.

“We are very pleased to be working on this project as this new building will enable students at the school to benefit from modern and spacious facilities. This is an important milestone in the life of the project.”

The school is run by Aletheia Anglican Academies Trust.

Read more: All the latest news from Gravesend