Pictured: (l-r) Rob Flello MP for Stoke South, Lucy Dyer
aged 16 and Andy Hands from Wates
The new £18.5m Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy in
Blurton reached a significant build milestone last week as Wates
Construction held a topping out ceremony for the 1050-capacity
building.
The 'topping out' ceremony is a pagan tradition historically
held to bring luck when construction of the uppermost point of a
new building is complete.
To mark the occasion, Wates Construction joined representatives
from Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the government to present the
academy with a gift customary of topping out but with a festive
twist; a Christmas tree instead of a yew tree, traditionally given
to appease tree-dwelling spirits.
The Christmas tree has now been placed in the reception of the
existing academy building, for the students to enjoy over the
festive period.
The new academy on Beaconsfield Drive will be completed at the
end of 2012. It is one of 18 school projects that will benefit from
new and improved facilities over the next three years as part of
Stoke-on-Trent City Council's £250m Building Schools for the
Future (BSF) programme.
Once occupied, the former premises are to be demolished and
replaced with an extensive landscape works, which will be completed
at the end of August 2013.
Wates Construction was appointed to part deliver the BSF
programme through a joint venture partnership with Thomas Vale
called 'TVW'.
Phil Harrison, Managing Director of Wates Construction in the
Midlands and North said: "It is important to mark build milestones,
to acknowledge what has been achieved and to punctuate our
progress. We're really proud to be part of this programme and to
contribute to the transformation of Stoke-on-Trent's educational
landscape. We're making great progress and this topping out
ceremony indicates a big step forward."
Councillor Ruth Rosenau, cabinet member for regeneration, said:
"The topping out ceremony highlights another milestone in the
Building Schools for the Future project. A tremendous amount of
hard work has already taken place at the Ormiston Sir Stanley
Matthews Academy as we continue with our plans to create first
class education facilities for the young people of
Stoke-on-Trent."
Gareth Jones, Vice Principal at Sir Stanley Matthews Academy,
added: "As our new building begins to take shape we are all excited
by what is developing. We are confident that the amazing progress
we have made will be further enhanced by our state of the art new
build."