Councillors have agreed £13.5 million towards adding 12 classrooms to a secondary school in Aldershot.
Hampshire County Council has agreed, subject to planning permission, to the expansion of Alderwood Foundation, which will add 300 places, taking the school to a capacity of 1,150.
It means the addition of two extra classes in each year group to cope with increasing numbers of homes being built in the area.
The proposed new two-storey building will include two dedicated classrooms for technology subjects, a textiles classroom, a graphics classroom, three new science classrooms, five general teaching classrooms plus staff offices and meeting rooms. The project also includes the reroofing and refurbishment of the existing science block.
An existing single-storey specialist teaching block will make way for the scheme. Plans have been submitted and a decision is expected in May.
The project cost is included in the children’s services capital programme, which was approved in January. Councillors have given the funding its formal approval at the education decision day meeting on March 26.
The majority of the money comes from developer contributions.
Cllr Steve Forster told the meeting: “Having visited one of the schools we are expanding, earlier this month, I was highly impressed by the diligence and the work shown by both our teams and the contractors onsite, which has enabled that work to progress very smoothly without any disruption.
“It is always difficult when you are doing an expansion but we have a track record of delivering these.”
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