Steelwork completed for new Leeds school

Totalling approximately 250t, the steel frame for the Dixons Trinity Chapeltown school in Leeds has been erected.

The new 1,000-pupil school is being constructed in response to the need for more educational places in the Yorkshire city.

Dixons Trinity Chapeltown plans to be a full all-through primary and secondary school, accommodating pupils aged between four and 16.

Currently housed in temporary buildings, adjacent to the work site, the school took in its first pupils in late 2017. It will be able to occupy its new premises once Willmott Dixon has completed a full fit-out in May 2020. The school expects to have a full complement of pupils by 2023.

The new steel-framed school building is a three-storey structure measuring approximately 80m-long x 30m-wide and offering 6,780m² of floor space.

Occupying the northern end of the building, the school’s sports hall is on the second floor, alongside the school’s main hall. These two column-free areas will have a moveable partition, which will allow them to be used as one large area or two separate halls.

The Dixons Trinity Chapeltown 3,700m² site is divided into two parts by the A58 highway. The main north site accommodates the school building, the main pupil and visitor entrance and playgrounds.

On the other side of the road, the south site has car parking, a pupil drop-off zone and sports pitches, which include a 4G all-weather pitch, a games court and a Multi-use games area (MUGA).

Spanning the road and linking the two sites will be a 26m-long steel Vierendeel truss bridge, which will connect directly into the school building’s southern elevation at second floor level.

Working on behalf of main contractor Willmott Dixon, Billington Structures fabricated, supplied and erected the steelwork for the school building.