High Leigh Primary School
Appointed through the Department of Education framework to build High Leigh Primary School at Hoddesdon for Hertfordshire County Council.
The new £11.4m two-form entry primary school for 420 pupils aged 4-11 has an integrated 30-place nursery. It replaces the existing one-form entry Westfield Community Primary School in Hoddesdon and provides additional space to serve the new High Leigh Garden Village where it is located.
Key points
High Leigh Primary School opened on time for Summer Term in April 2025 after McLaren helped the school decant from its previous building over the Easter holiday. An integrated 30-place nursery follows in September 2025.
Hertfordshire County Council’s new two-form entry primary school accommodates 420 pupils aged 4-11. It replaces the existing one-form entry Westfield Community Primary School and provides additional space to serve the new High Leigh Garden Village.
McLaren won the £11.4 million contract through a Department for Education framework and then worked closely with Hertfordshire to bring an existing 2020 planning consent up to the latest standards and specifications.
The scheme includes a full fit out, plus extensive external space including a car park, soft landscaping and sport pitches.
Executive Member for Education, Libraries & Lifelong Learning at Hertfordshire County Council, Cllr Caroline Clapper, comments, "We are committed to ensuring that the children of Hertfordshire receive the best start in life and the provision of excellent teaching facilities underpins our mission. These state-of-the art facilities deliver the tools children need to thrive."
High-performance pre-manufactured structure
The new school will be built using Innovare’s structural insulated panels (SIPs) between concrete floors. The pre-manufactured timber panels provide excellent thermal and acoustic insulation, fire resistance and low waste, as well as enabling the structure of the building to take shape rapidly.
Sustainability in construction and operation
Sustainability is embedded in the design through choice of materials and energy efficiency. The large flat roof accommodates 90.1 kWp solar panels and electric vehicle charging serves 15 spaces in the car park. McLaren has added to the sustainability of the project by using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as a fuel instead of fossil fuels and by re-using the majority of the excavated soil on the site.
Sports England multi-use pitches created with cut and fill
Ground works shaped the site to raise the building level and then create a suitable surface of screened soil for the winter and summer sports pitches, built to Sports England multi-use specifications. The cut and fill approach meant no soil needed to be brought to site.
Working with local residents and businesses
McLaren followed its policy of procuring locally wherever possible and found suppliers in the surrounding area for brickwork, scaffolding and cleaning, while the school's sports pitch was created by Hertford-based AT Bone and groundworks by Old Knebworth-based AD Bly Construction.
The McLaren team scored full marks under the Considerate Constructors scheme, showing their respect for the community and the environment. The team went beyond the requirements of a well-run site and found many ways to engage with local people, donating a dozen laptops to The Sele secondary school and reaching out to talented youngsters at both Hertford Careers Fair and the Generation Bishops Stortford Careers Fair. The community came together at a topping out event where four Year 6 pupils saw their new school taking shape and were able to stand on the roof.
