The Bridge School: A Beacon of Excellence

Last week, we received the excellent news that The Bridge School was successful in being shortlisted for the upcoming SPACES yearbook. It’s a project that we are extremely proud of so we wanted to share with you more details on the school.

It was an honour for our team to design and deliver this fantastic project at The Bridge School. The transformation of this site, into a state-of-the-art SEND school, was a much-needed project for Suffolk County Council and the local community in Ipswich.

Our team first started working on The Bridge School project in 2011 with the consideration of the merger of Heathside Primary School and The Bridge Secondary School onto a single site. The Primary School, Phase 1, was completed in 2015. Having been involved with these works, we were asked to create a new outdoor classroom to improve the learning and wellbeing of pupils with severe learning difficulties. The Headteacher is thrilled with the completed school and the creation of a space which provides excellent educational benefits for current and future pupils, describing it as a beacon of excellence.

“I would like to say that it is an exceptionally beautiful building. It is, when all the grass has grown, going to be one of the most beautiful schools for miles around. The school is absolutely divine, and I have had a lovely time doing the project. Thank you very much.”
Hazel Simmons, Headteacher

Our close working relationship with Morgan Sindall and the client was instrumental to the success of the project, particularly during the pandemic which started during construction. We led engagement sessions with the end users from an early stage to ensure all the requirements for the school were taken into consideration. The design and structure needed to be of high-quality, integrating safety considerations for access control and safeguarding, a hydrotherapy pool with changing rooms, a sensory room, and different signage and colours for each classroom. Our Architecture team incorporated these elements whilst maintaining a modern and functional design with innovative solutions. Natalie Finnigan, Project Lead, commented: “Spending almost two years on site, through some of the toughest times construction has known, the successful delivery of the scheme has been down to the drive and determination of the whole team. The quality of the build speaks for itself and the smiles on the faces of the teachers and students alike makes all the hard work worthwhile.”

“I attended the opening ceremony for The Bridge and was absolutely stunned by the new school. The building is marvellous and the landscaping quite exceptional. Given the constraints of the site, it was an enormous ask to work around an existing school to achieve something quite new for Suffolk. We give our sincere thanks to the Concertus team for their outstanding work. I hope everyone feels very proud of their work. It is going to be a wonderful school.”
Joy Stodart, Head of Schools Infrastructure, Suffolk County Council

Mayor Elizabeth Hughes officially opened this wonderful facility at an afternoon tea event which we hosted with Morgan Sindall. This was a lovely celebration!

We are incredibly proud of the project team who have gone above and beyond to deliver this exceptional project. Please take the time to watch the video below and see the impact that this project has already had on the pupils at the school. This heartwarming video is a celebration of the project’s success and a testament to the hard work the team put into it.