Construction of a new £13.5m state of the art three-storey teaching block for Horsham’s Millais School has reached the half-way stage.

Funded through West Sussex County Council’s School Capital Building Programme, the works will see a new teaching block to house specialist facilities for art, music and technology and new suites for maths and modern languages.

Work started in October last year, and Willmott Dixon is currently on track to finish the second phase of works by November this year. Work is currently in the second of four phases and the team are working toward ultimate completion in November 2015.

Headteacher Leon Nettley, chair of governors Liz Barnes, Willmott Dixon’s local managing director John Waterman, and project manager Matt Dubber, attended the event with several Millais students to mark the construction milestone last week.

Mr Nettley said: “This is an exciting time for us as a school.

“We are delighted with the work that Willmott Dixon is undertaking and are looking forward to the new building opening later in the autumn term.

“This event has been a chance for us all to acknowledge what a vital addition the building will be to our school facilities.

“It’s fantastic to have the pupils here to celebrate what will be an important part of their lives.”

John Waterman, Willmott Dixon’s managing director for the local Cobham office, said: “We’re very pleased to have reached this significant milestone for such an important project in the local community.

“The new building will provide a significant upgrade to the school’s existing facilities and serve young people in the area for many years to come.”

This comes as the school received an ‘Outstanding’ rating from Ofsted in June 2014, just months after a blaze damaged part of the school’s premises.

It was graded Outstanding by Ofsted in all four categories – achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour, and safety of pupils and leadership and management.

Willmott Dixon Construction delivers award-winning projects across the education, health, leisure, workplace and retail sectors.

The company works on public and private sector developments on behalf of national Government frameworks, local authorities and private organisations.

Willmott Dixon Group is one of the UK’s largest privately-owned construction, regeneration and support services companies.

With 160 years of experience, the company provides services within the built environment to Government, registered social landlords, local authorities and private sector clients throughout the UK.