Matford Brook Academy’s main building, which has never been used by pupils, is to be demolished and replaced following a review which found it has major structural faults.
Construction company ISG, which entered administration in 2024, built the new school building for Ted Wragg Trust – which described it as “state of the art” – for a reported £31 million in 2021.
The school’s planned September 2023 opening was delayed by the discovery of problems with the building’s foundations.
Enrolled pupils were initially accommodated at St Luke’s, another Ted Wragg Trust school, before the trust confirmed in 2024 that the school building was still not ready to open.
It said what it described as a “village” of temporary classrooms would be used for teaching while further checks were carried out.
The school’s temporary accommodation was expanded to accommodate growing pupil numbers at the start of this year, with investigation works still incomplete.
The Department for Education then said, last month, that a review carried out by Kier Group had concluded that the building “does not meet the required standards in its current form”.
It said that the review identified “several significant structural and compliance issues that would require extensive dismantling and redesign, with no assurance that the building would ultimately meet the necessary certification requirements”.
As a result, it has decided to demolish the building before commissioning a replacement from a new contractor.
Matford Brook Academy is intended to serve up to 1,450 pupils of all ages in the 2,500-home South West Exeter extension.
There are currently just 276 pupils enrolled at the school.
