Link Building project launches in 2022

In 2020, MCS worked with Walters & Cohen architects to develop a new Masterplan for the MCS site. The aim of the Masterplan is to ensure that, when MCS celebrates its 550^th anniversary in 2030, the school estate is in a position to sustain the school for at least another half millennium.

The Masterplan identified a number of ‘enabling works’ that could be undertaken to improve the environment for staff and pupils at the school, and so the Link Building Project was born. The aims of the project were to:

1. Expand the food servery area into the Link Building foyer, improving pupil flow and allowing for further menu choice. This would then allow the kitchen to expand into a portion of the current servery area in order to provide a much needed additional food preparation area and better storage facilities.
2. Construct a new enhanced Learning Support department with a communal study space, and four adjacent teaching spaces, for one-to-one or small group lessons. The new facility will be on the second floor of the Link.
3. Build a new sustainable classroom to act as a trial and benchmark for all future new classrooms. The new classroom will also be optimised to deliver online or blended learning, enabling opportunities through our partnership work for pupils from other schools to virtually join academic and co-curricular activities at MCS.
4. Expand and refurbish the Senior Common Room (SCR) in order to provide improved welfare facilities for all staff.

The Governing Body approved the project in late 2021, and planning permission was received shortly after that. MCS appointed the local firm Benfield & Loxley as the contractors, and work began on site in March 2022.

The construction site remained hidden from view at the back of the Link Building during the summer term, with pupils and staff only really noticing something was occurring when the school moved to using temporary kitchen during the second half of the Trinity Term. The steel frame of the building was erected in May 2022 and from there work progressed rapidly.

The window of opportunity to refurbish the school’s kitchen and servery was very tight, but Benfield & Loxley worked tirelessly through the sweltering summer heat to ensure that everything was on schedule to be ready to serve the MCS pupils and staff lunch by the start of the Michaelmas Term.

Peter Lowe (Catering Manager) and Will Tinckler (Head Chef) took control of the completed kitchen last week, and have spent a joyous few days learning to use the new equipment, and preparing the servery for the return of pupils. Staff INSET days will provide the opportunity for a test run, before the full lunch service for over 1,000 people resumes on Thursday 8^th September. We hope that all our pupils enjoy using the new facilities next week.

Construction work will continue during the Michaelmas Term to complete the new Learning Support department, sustainable classroom and Senior Common Room. These are on schedule to be completed by the end of October 2022, ready to be used in the second half of the Michaelmas Term.