Pictured above: At the topping out ceremony are, from left, Cllr Kuldip Sahota, Cllr Paul Watling and Kier Moss regional director, Gary Pearce

Developers of a new multi-million pound Sports and Learning Community project in Telford have celebrated its progress with a special time capsule ceremony.

Kier Moss is redeveloping the existing Abraham Darby Academy and Woodlands Primary School in Madeley, and helped to organise a topping-out ceremony that proved to be a great success.

The event gave representatives from Telford & Wrekin Council and school pupils the opportunity to bury three time capsules, and to be among the first to see inside the new buildings.

Kier Moss regional director, Gary Pearce, said: "We are delighted to be working with Telford & Wrekin Council on this development and we're very pleased that the Abraham Darby project is progressing so well. It's a wonderful opportunity for Kier Moss to be involved in a project that has the potential to improve the quality of life for the local community and future generations."

The topping out ceremony celebrated the completion of the new Abraham Darby building's dome roof and time capsules were buried at the entrance to the new primary school, the new academy and the new leisure complex.

Kier Moss has been working on the new complex for the last 15 months and expect to have the site ready for hand over in December this year, with the opening scheduled for January 2012.

The ceremony was conducted by Telford & Wrekin Council leader Cllr Kuldip Sahota, and also attended by Cllr Paul Watling (cabinet member for children and young people), Kier Moss representatives, head teachers from the two schools, council officers and media.

Cllr Watling said: "We have buried three time capsules for future generations to unearth and get a view of what life was like at the time the building was built, and the topping out ceremony was a great way of marking the occasion. The building already looks very impressive, and I am looking forward to it opening and being a centre for the community in the Madeley and Woodside areas."

The Abraham Darby project is the first development in a programme that will see Kier Moss carrying out the work to replace existing outdated schools in the area with state-of-the-art learning environments which incorporate sporting and community facilities.

As well as redeveloping the existing Abraham Darby Academy and Woodlands Primary School to create a modern educational facility on the same site, a new leisure centre for school and community use will also be created.