Morgan Sindall celebrates carbon savings on two fronts at Bristol school

Contractor Morgan Sindall Construction has celebrated both the successful handover of a low-energy school building in Stoke Gifford and the achievement of low-carbon targets onsite.

The new Olympus Building at Abbeywood Community School in Stoke Gifford, expands the school’s capacity to 1,500 pupils in response to growing local demand for secondary school places and features air-source heat pumps and solar PV, in line with the contractor commitment to deliver sustainable buildings – helping to reduce the school’s operational carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels.

South Gloucestershire Council Cabinet Member for Schools, Councillor Ian Boulton, said:

I am thrilled that this project is now complete and these improvements to the school will be enjoyed by staff and pupils alike for years to come. We have invested almost £12 million in this project, and in other parts of the district we have been able to get projects that had stalled underway. We don’t just want to talk about the future for our children in South Gloucestershire, we want to help build it. Better school buildings and catering for growing pupil numbers is a key part of that mission.”

Morgan Sindall implemented its 10 Tonne Challenge, which encourages project teams to work collaboratively with consultants and the supply chain to reduce construction-related carbon emissions from the construction process by at least 10 tonnes.

The company reports that the team far exceeded this target, with a reduction of 148 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in the project. This was achieved through such measures as the use of electric arc furnace steel; timber waste recycling; and the reuse of concrete hoarding blocks from another Morgan Sindall scheme. Carbon savings were measured using CarboniCa, an intelligent carbon‑reduction tool developed by Morgan Sindall Group and supply chain software specialist Once For All. The savings achieved are the equivalent to heating 55 UK homes for a year, the firm added.

Morgan Sindall also piloted one of the construction industry’s first zero-waste plasterboard programmes on the project, in partnership with British Gypsum. As part of the trial, a large volume of plasterboard was pre-cut off-site, weighed, and monitored to minimise waste and improve efficiency.

The new building was procured by South Gloucestershire Council via the SCAPE Construction framework, which accelerates delivery whilst ensuring both time and cost certainty for public sector clients, the contractor said.

The first phase of works included extending the dance studio, refurbishing and decarbonising the existing kitchen, and reconfiguring the changing room facilities. This was followed by the delivery of the new Olympus Building, which provides 10 new classrooms alongside dedicated office space, a staff working room, and enhanced welfare and accessible facilities. The scheme also included an extension to the existing car park to provide ten additional spaces, including two electric vehicle (EV) charging points.

Morgan Sindall installed a temporary four‑classroom block during the first phase, ensuring lessons could continue uninterrupted. In recognition of this collaborative approach, the project achieved a perfect 45 out of 45 Considerate Construction Scheme score during its final visit, the firm reports.

Morgan Sindall also utilised the digital construction tool, Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC), to improve accuracy in programming and planning in collaboration with NVB Architects, consultants and subcontractors. The partners said that by using the tool in conjunction with the wider team, the platform enabled improved accuracy in planning and programming, with detailed design coordination and clash detection resolved before construction even commenced.

Morgan Sindall onboarded three local students during the project to give them the chance to gain onsite experience,. In addition, a local plumbing student from South Gloucestershire College was placed with the M&E contractor, Keyplan Engineering, to gain hands-on experience on site.