Hewett Academy in Norwich set for major development

Work will soon begin at the Hewett Academy in Cecil Road as Norwich City Council approves plans for redeveloping some of its buildings.

The proposal includes the redevelopment and refurbishment of the school, including the construction of a new sports hall, refurbishment of the swimming hall and the Walter Roy Theatre and the demolition of buildings next to the Hewett Academy.

The school is up for a refurb worth millions of pounds (Image: LSI) The school has a large campus which includes the main Hewett Academy building, sports hall, swimming hall and sports grounds.

The site also contains a number of prefabricated buildings which are currently in a "poor and unusable condition," according to planning consultancy Lanpro.

The secretary of state for education, through the Department for Education, has allocated millions of pounds of funding for the improvements to the Hewett Academy under the School Rebuilding Programme.

A new sports hall is in the plans (Image: LSI) Simon Jones, a member of the academy committee and who has a stepson in Year 8, said: "This investment is long overdue and is much deserved by the school.

"Hewett’s teachers are amazing, and this will provide them – and the students – a showcase building to be proud of.

"We can’t thank Hewett and the Inspiration Trust enough for helping to make this happen."

The school will feature lots of landscaped outdoor areas (Image: LSI) Gareth Stevens, chief executive of Inspiration Trust which oversees a further 16 academies in addition to Hewett Academy said: "We're delighted that by listening to and incorporating the views of the community, our project to provide a first-class building for Hewett has received such strong local support.

"This has been eight years in the making, so this is a joyous day, and we'd like to thank everyone who's been part of this journey with us.

READ MORE: Indoor city sports centre gets green light... but won't be going ahead

"Improving our teaching and sporting facilities, so they match the exceptional education our pupils receive, not only benefits existing students but will also mean we can offer the Hewett experience to even more families."

An aerial view of the new school (Image: LSI) A spokeswoman for the school confirmed that plans are in place to avoid disruption, including the limit to the number of students the academy takes every year, and some of the buildings are unoccupied.

The school currently has 422 pupils, but the capacity for 1,493 - with even more space set once the rebuild is finished.

The work will be completed in phases, with the first stage of work undertaken on the tower and the east wing of the main school, where the new classrooms and dining hall will go.