Northampton sorting office to be turned into new academy school

Duncan Mills, the managing director of EMLC Academy Trust, said the building had "great potential"

Work to convert a former Royal Mail sorting office into Northampton's largest school has got under way.

About 560 people worked at the Barrack Road site in Northampton prior to its closure in 2003 following a fire. The site has stood derelict ever since.

The building will now undergo a major refurbishment before opening as an academy run by EMLC Trust.

The £30m school will accommodate more than 2,000 pupils when it opens in September 2016.

Empty and redundant

The plans also include a private nursery, cafe, gym and seven homes.

The trust intends to begin accepting enrolment applications later this month.

Managing Director Duncan Mills said he knew the building "had the potential to become a large school" from the first time he saw it, and believes it will help regenerate the town.

Matthew Golby from Northamptonshire County Council said the school would help meet the "real need" for more school places in Northampton town centre.

The council plans to create 10,000 new primary school places in the county by 2015, to meet what it described as "the rising demand from an increased birth-rate, high levels of in-migration and developments of new housing".