Planners insist school must have £900k sprinklers

Councillors have demanded that a new school for Alconbury Weald be built with sprinklers

Calls to avoid installing a £900,000 sprinkler system at a new school in order to save money have been rejected by councillors.

Cambridgeshire County Council heard that a risk assessment concluded it would be acceptable not to install the anti-fire measure at the proposed Alconbury Weald Secondary School.

Some councillors argued they should be "maximising" children’s safety and the majority voted to ensure one was added to the new-build, near Huntingdon.

The council is now facing a dilemma of having to find the cash from within a £37m budget for the sprinkler system at the school, planned for the Alconbury Weald development where about 6,500 new homes are being built.

A report to the Children & Young People Committee said: "The [fire safety] advisor has noted that the academy trust will be able to effectively manage the site and building security and their maintenance and fire safety procedures in accordance with the recommendations of an ‘average risk’ building as detailed within the Department for Education assessment tool."

Potential savings

The report also highlighted fire protection features to be included within the three-storey school included a roller shutter fire door built between the kitchen and the dining hall, which would automatically close if a fire alarm went off, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council said it would now assess what potential savings would have to be made to pay for sprinklers and that if the savings could not be found within the project, it would have to ask if more funding could be made available.

Under a Section 106 agreement for the development, the council is obligated to open the secondary school before 1,350 homes are completed.

The authority said 1,038 homes had been completed by April this year.

The secondary school project was paused after the engineering and construction contract sum “significantly” exceeded the £37m budget for the scheme.

The council said it hoped work to build the school could start in May 2025, and to open to children in September 2027.