A CONSTRUCTION company is to start work on a £2.8m contract at a North-East school.

MMP Construction (NE), a division of Newton Aycliffe's MMP Group, will develop a sixth form centre and make internal alterations to St Leonard's School, in Durham.

The scheme is the largest of its kind the company has worked on. Project consultants Wm C Harvey Limited, of Blaydon, North Tyneside, is working with MMP.

MMP business development manager Bob Jobson said: "MMP's experience in the education sector is well established and we have worked on numerous school projects across the region."

The scheme, due for completion in September next year, includes a two-storey detached centre for the school's 250 sixth form students.

MMP will also build a two-storey extension to a school block to provide a music suite, while internal alterations will provide science labs, drama facilities, a recording studio, textiles and graphics areas and a learning support unit.

The IT unit will be expanded and improvements will be made to the art and ceramics department and the dining room.

Headteacher Sean O'Keeffe said: "The work is being done because we haven't got sufficient space at the moment for our 1,470 pupils - we need more teaching space.

"The developments will allow our pupils to make use of more modern facilities and maintain our increasing success at both GCSE and A-level."

The MMP Group is a privately owned building and civil engineering company established in 1986 as M&M Plasline.

In the past year, the company has expanded from four divisions to six, including joinery and shopfitting, plastering and drylining and finishings, and moved from Bishop Auckland to Newton Aycliffe, both County Durham, expanding its floor space five-fold.

The acquisition of steel frame company Metek Building Systems in September last year made MMP the only North-East company able to provide a complete building service from manufacture and supply to installation.

Last month, the MMP Group won its biggest contract to date, to build a £6m residential development in Cambridge Road, Middlesbrough.

Published: 13/09/2005