New 420-pupil school to be built on site of old Royal Mail depot in Nine Elms

A new school will be built on the site of a former Royal Mail depot which once employed 1,000 people.

The school will be built by Wandsworth council on the former South London Mail Centre site between Nine Elms Lane and Ponton Road.

The new £6million 4,309sqm school hopes to welcome 420 pupils and 52 nursery pupils.

The nursery will be a separate area which will help with the move up from nursery to primary school.

The council’s building work will start in time for primary school places in 2026 and will support the 20,000 new homes being built across the Nine Elms area.

Wildlife gardens and play areas will accompany the school to encourage children to engage with nature and increase local biodiversity in the built up area.

There will be 56 long-stay cycle parking spaces and seven short stay spaces to encourage sustainable travel, according to the council.

The design has been “highly commended” by the New London Awards 2021 where judges said the new school “is sustainable, civilised and egalitarian”.

Wandsworth Council’s cabinet member for education and children’s services, Cllr Will Sweet said: “This commendation is a huge vote of confidence in the council’s vision for high quality education provision and choice for children of all abilities.

“We worked collaboratively to develop proposals for a school building that serves the whole community, and championed the need for a sustainable design that puts children’s learning at the heart of the development.”