New building for Tameside school which was flooded with sewage

A Denton primary school is celebrating after the Department for Education (DfE) agreed to fund a new building on the site. 

Construction on the replacement for Russell Scott Primary School is expected to begin next year after Tameside Council (TMBC) provisionally approved the scheme as part of the nationwide School Rebuilding Plan. 

The building has been subject to running repairs for the past 25 years, and although previous works in 2015 reshaped the school, the deterioration of its condition made this untenable in the long term. 

“Remodelling works were completed to create additional space,” said the TMBC planning decision. “But the underlying condition issues were never addressed, and these have continued to cause a significant number of problems affecting the use of the building.”  

Carillion were behind the botched multi-million-pound 2015 renovation, which led to an appearance on the ‘Britain’s Crumbling Schools’ episode of the BBC’s Panorama. 

A source told the Reporter that Carillion – who went bust in 2018 - “built a school that was unfit for children. This despite architects’ reports that the school was dangerous and did not comply to fire and building regulations when it opened.” 

Since then, Russell Scott has closed several times for flooding, raw sewage flowing into classrooms, explosive levels of sewer gas, and other issues that were deemed to be an immediate risk to life. 

The new-look school will be on playing fields at west end of the current site, with the existing building staying open during the build. TMBC say the old school will then be demolished and the grounds landscaped with a new sports field installed. 

Former pupil of Russell Scott, Gorton and Denton MP Andrew Gwynne, is excited about the development having long campaigned for the new school buildings. 

“I am absolutely delighted the Department for Education has agreed to a full rebuild of Russell Scott Primary in Denton.  

“It has been a long fight to get here, but the future generations of Denton will now benefit from a state-of-the-art school built to the highest standard.” 

Likewise, the primary school’s headteacher Steve Marland is keen to put its troubles firmly in the past. 

“Finally! It’s been a hard, hard, lonely journey from a school that was named “The worst built school in the country” by the media, and considered dangerous and non-compliant by architects and construction experts who were shocked it was ever opened in 2015, never mind welcoming in the communities children; featuring on Panorama’s Britain’s Crumbling Schools to lobbying Ministers, we have the go ahead to build a new modern two-storey school fit for the 21st century on what was our sports fields.  

“When the building is complete the school community will move into its new home, and they will demolish the current one and reinstate sports fields and a large Multi-Use Games Area for the school and local community.” 

However, he is scathing of those who put the school in its current situation in the first place. 

“It’s scandalous that we have been left to manage a building costing millions that now has to be demolished and replaced because it is so unfit. Those that left us here all this time, knowing our plight and what we were left with, should be hanging their heads in shame. 

“I would, though, like to give a big shout out to our MP Andrew Gwynne, an ex-pupil at Russell Scott, for the work he’s done on behalf of our community. Andrew has been speaking with Ministers, asking questions in the Houses of Parliament and making sure that this disgraceful and shameful story was not forgotten but has resulted in a new school.  

“Thankfully following Panorama, the Department for Education have intervened, and the feasibility reports agreed there was only one option and that was a shiny new school, future-proofed for decades with fantastic sports facilities that we could only dream about when this journey started. 

“Our children and community deserve the very best that money can buy and that’s what we have been promised.” 

The DfE will foot the bill for building the new school – although they have not revealed the cost – with TMBC covering minor outgoings related to the site’s title deeds and land transactions. 

The council says these are “likely to be relatively immaterial compared to the size of the project,” although they also acknowledge that their total cost is ‘unknown’ at this stage. 

Russell Scott will also become an academy on January 1, 2025, joining the Ambition Community Trust (ACT) along with Millbrook Primary School in Stalybridge, Corrie Primary School and Greswell Primary School both in Denton, and the Tameside Pupil Referral Unit in Dukinfield. 

ACT will have a 125-year lease on the site, although the freehold will still be held by Tameside Council.