Wanstead High School finally has a builder again
A new contractor took possession of the unfinished Wanstead High School site on 21 October, eight months after the original builder collapsed. How it got here, what's been set aside, and what Redbridge hasn't published about the pool.
Eight months after the original builder went into administration, someone is back on site at Wanstead High School. Redbridge Council says a new contractor took possession of the unfinished education block on 21 October, and residents should expect "increased activity on site over the coming weeks".
It matters well beyond the school gates. The same scheme is meant to deliver Wanstead's long-promised 25-metre pool, first promised after the 2014 elections, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, and it's still waiting. The council hasn't named the contractor, given a completion date or said what the delay has cost.
In its news release of 22 October, the council said the "newly appointed contractor took possession of the site on 21 October 2026". First up: "a greater contractor presence, site clearance works, adjustments to hoarding, and health and safety reviews and improvement works", paving "the way for the main construction phase". A stakeholder working group, with school and community representatives, will get regular officer updates, though there's no date for its first meeting.
A project once "on track for completion in late 2025" is now at the start of what the council calls its "site delivery phase". The route there, from the council's own papers:
- 2018: The redevelopment, described on council pages as both a £16m extension and a £20m project, was first approved, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. It includes a new 25-metre pool and four classrooms, and work began in 2022.
- 9 May 2025: The council announced the "£16m Wanstead Leisure Centre extension" was "now in its final phases": "Construction is on track for completion in late 2025."
- 17 February 2026: Administrators from FRP Advisory were appointed to the main contractor, Jerram Falkus Construction Limited (company number 00820289), per the Gazette on 20 February.
- 19 February 2026: The council said it was "very disappointed", "especially as we were nearing completion", and had "taken formal possession of the site from the Administrator". It called the setback "entirely beyond our control".
- 29 August 2026: Council leader Cllr Kam Rai went further: "It was not simply the insolvency of the contractor, Jerram Falkus, that led to these delays." But "the council awarded the contract and was responsible for overseeing its delivery, and I do not seek to avoid that fact." He apologised: "The community deserved better than this." The school block comes first, the leisure centre after.
- 18 August to 24 September: A petition called for a public meeting and the "urgent completion of this decade-long building work". The council's 24 September report says it had 2,179 signatures (online and paper), above the 1,500 needed for a council debate. When we checked the e-petitions register on 25 October, the online petition, open until 18 February 2027, showed about 1,465.
The petition cites "over six years" of disruption: lessons "disrupted by noise and dust", staggered lunches cutting extra-curricular activity, disrupted exams, and rent on "supposedly temporary classrooms" "draining financial resources". Those are the petitioners' claims, but the council's report doesn't dispute them, accepting that the "prolonged construction programme has affected pupils' experience of the school environment, including access to facilities, circulation and external space".
In reply, the council says it did a "gap analysis", enabling works and intrusive surveys after the insolvency, and approved a preferred delivery option by Strong Leader Decision. Officers meet the school weekly, and a public meeting is promised at "an appropriate opportunity".
On the pool, the report says a "design options appraisal" is under way "to establish the best way forward". The petitioners say there is no contractor for the pool and leisure centre.
The money
The first-quarter capital budget report, which went to Cabinet on 17 September, shows:
- £3.585m for Wanstead High School in 2026/27 and £6m in 2027/28: £9.585m in all.
- £1.288m for the pool this year.
- A transfer of £2m this year and £6m next from the "Creation of Additional School Places" budget, which the petition report says covers the new contractor.
The administration was "creating a further delay", the report says, and the council "is currently undertaking a review to determine the financial implications". Any extra leisure centre money would need a further Cabinet report and, if it means more borrowing, full council approval. These are budget allocations, not a contract price: there's no word yet on what the council is paying the new contractor, what's been spent, or what the whole scheme will cost.
Still unanswered: the new contractor's name; when the education block, and the pool and leisure centre, will be finished, or whether the pool will be built as designed; the total cost of the project and of the delay; and when the public meeting and first stakeholder group meeting will be. We'll update this if the council publishes any of it.
