Virtual showcase for £30m school plans

SIX months before building work begins a sneak preview inside Calderdale's new £30m academy has been put on show.

Pupils, parents and staff can now take a virtual tour through the two-storey complex, which will replace Holy Trinity Senior School, Holmfield, Halifax.

And a huge model of the new Trinity Academy with surrounding roads and houses has also been put on display for the first time.

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Academy principal Michael Gosling said he wanted the community to understand the proposals and get behind them to help influence the design.

Work is due to begin in November so it can open at the start of the school year in September 2012 with space for 1,500 young people, including 300 in the sixth-form.

A planning application is expected to be put to Calderdale Council in the next few weeks, which will help resolve one of the most contentious issues in the scheme – diverting a public right of way across the site.

An application has already been lodged to divert it around the perimeter, although that brings it closer to several homes.

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The two-storey academy, a long glass-fronted building with parallel blocks hidden behind it, will be at the bottom of Heathy Lane on a sloping site.

A wide area stretches up through the centre with learning zones and specialist spaces leading off either side.

As well as a dining hall, lecture theatre, library and sixth-form centre, there will be a recording studio, an outdoor performance area and a space for religious tutoring and contemplation.

Visitors will be able to use a community cafe in the entrance area. Wireless connection to laptop computers will be available across the whole site.

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A turning circle for buses and a drop-off point at the entrance will be coupled with parking space for up to 180 cars.

There will be a sports court and the existing rugby pitch will be turned into an athletics track.

When Holy Trinity is demolished, it will be replaced with an all-weather floodlit sports pitch which will be available, like the rest of the L-shaped complex, for community use.

Mr Gosling and vice-principal Stephen Evans said everything possible had been done to make the building fit in with its setting.

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A wind turbine is planned for and special glass will insulate and heat the building in an energy-efficient way.

It will open on the site of Holy Trinity Senior School, and is being sponsored by the Diocese of Wakefield, Calderdale College, the University of Huddersfield and Calderdale Council.

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