Work complete on learning village

The education village accommodates 1,400 students

The finishing touches are being made to a multi-million pound education village in County Durham.

The final phase of the £35m complex in Darlington, which will be used by 1,400 pupils, has been completed.

Work on air conditioning, ventilation and fume extraction have been completed by building services firm SES.

The facility houses children from Springfield Primary School, Haughton Community School and Beaumont Hill Technology College.

Students at the complex can take advantage of facilities like a 25-metre swimming pool and hydrotherapy pool, dance and drama studios and interactive music therapy rooms.

Each classroom is fitted with wireless Internet connections and there are more than 550 PCs available for use throughout the building.

Steve Joyce, SES operations manager, said: "It's a difficult task to accommodate such a range of ages and children with special needs, into one school.

"We had to provide a number of innovative solutions including specialist systems and additional mechanical ventilation, as children with certain special needs can be easily distracted when using natural ventilation."