Fresh plans after canopy collapse at £35m school

Plans have been submitted for a new canopy to replace one which dramatically collapsed at a new £35m school in Telford, injuring five workmen.

Developer Kier Moss said it had put the blueprints forward for the canopy at Abraham Darby Academy in Madeley.

The original canopy collapsed in August, injuring the workmen and delaying work on the site while the Health and Safety Executive carried out an investigation.

The academy pupils had been due to move into the flagship building in January but the collapse of the canopy means that has now been put back to June.

The new Woodlands Primary School building and the leisure centre on the same site will, though, open on time after the Christmas holiday, Telford & Wrekin Council has said.

Richard Collin, for Kier Moss, today said: "We have carried out public engagement with presentation boards at five locations and consultation in three, and feedback has been very good."

Plans for an anaerobic digester on the site to recycle waste have been shelved though, because to work properly it would need too much maintenance in the school holidays.

Mr Collin said: "Calculations showed it would have been unsuitable for use on the school site, because to work efficiently the digester needs to be in operation for 52 weeks a year. The periods during the school holidays when it would have been left idle would lead to the requirement for additional maintenance costs."