GRAHAM breaks ground on 10,000 sq m Cranbourne School rebuild in Basingstoke

GRAHAM has broken ground on a 10,000 sq m rebuild of Cranbourne School in Basingstoke, replacing seven buildings, some containing RAAC, under the Department for Education's School Rebuilding Programme.

The contractor said it is delivering the scheme in partnership with Hampshire County Council on the existing school site off Wessex Close. A groundbreaking ceremony on 29 September was attended by representatives of the DfE, the county council and GRAHAM, along with school staff and students.

Six of the seven buildings being replaced date from the 1960s, and some contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), according to GRAHAM. They will give way to a single three- and two-storey campus bringing teaching and sports facilities under one roof on a 6.8-hectare site.

Pat O'Hare, Regional Director at GRAHAM, said: "We're pleased to be working with Hampshire County Council and the Department for Education to deliver Cranbourne School."

The building

GRAHAM said preparatory works are under way ahead of the main construction programme and foundation works later in the year. In its earlier appointment announcement, the company said early site activities had begun over the summer.

The new building will house music, art and design and technology spaces, together with an activity studio. A sports hall and swimming pool will sit on the ground floor, with an admin suite, spaces for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and general teaching on the first floor. ICT, humanities, maths and science classrooms will occupy the second floor.

Separate school and community entrances will allow local sports groups to use the pool and sports hall, and primary schools will be able to use the pool for swimming lessons during the school day, GRAHAM said.

The rebuild also takes in new sports pitches, reconfigured staff parking and a cycle shelter to the west of the site. Green roofs and solar PV canopies are included to improve environmental performance.

Sarah Conlon, Head Teacher at Cranbourne School, said the rebuild was "a chance to create modern, new facilities that will broaden our curriculum, improve specialist spaces and technology".

The DfE's Get Information about Schools register lists Cranbourne as a mixed community secondary school for pupils aged 11 to 16 at Wessex Close, Basingstoke, RG21 3NP. GRAHAM's appointment announcement referred to the school as Cranbourne Secondary School.

GRAHAM's announcements did not give a contract value or completion date for the scheme.

GRAHAM's DfE pipeline

Cranbourne is the third project GRAHAM has secured under the DfE's Construction Framework 2021 (CF21), following The Castle Rock School in Leicestershire and Oasis Academy Temple Quarter in Bristol.

GRAHAM holds two places on the £7bn four-year framework, which has more than 22 lots: Lot 2 of the High-Value Band, covering projects over £12m in the southern region of England, and Lot 4 of the Medium-Value Band, for schemes worth between £6m and £12m in the East Midlands.

At Castle Rock in Coalville, GRAHAM is carrying out a £37m redevelopment of a secondary and sixth form campus for the DfE and Lionheart Educational Trust, providing accommodation for up to 1,550 pupils. The building is due to be watertight in November 2026 and ready for occupation in January 2028.

Oasis Academy Temple Quarter, designed for 1,600 pupils, topped out at a ceremony on its Silverthorne Lane site on 17 June. Construction began in September 2025 and the permanent building is scheduled to open in September 2027.

The successor DfE Construction Framework 2025 (CF25) has a programme value of £15.4bn and runs from 2026 to 2032, with a possible extension to 2034, according to GRAHAM's framework page. It is open to local authorities, academy trusts, universities and further education bodies.

The programme

The School Rebuilding Programme began in 2021 and currently has 524 projects, according to the DfE. Schools are prioritised where buildings are of specific construction types that require replacement, have the highest condition needs, or carry risks with the potential to cause significant harm to pupils or staff.

Councillor Juliet Henderson, Executive Member for Education at Hampshire County Council, said she was delighted to see the investment in Cranbourne School progressing.

Foundation works at Cranbourne are due to start later this year.