An unsafe and out-of-use school could be demolished and rebuilt.
Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Primary School in Barrow was condemned in 2023, after being deemed unfit for school use.
Children and teachers from the Lumley Street school have since split their time between St Bernard’s Catholic High School and temporary buildings on the Sacred Heart’s site.
Plans were previously submitted to Westmorland and Furness Council asking for prior permission to demolish the main school building, presbytery and other associated structures. The authority had approved the proposal.
An application for a replacement building was then submitted, proposing to build a two-storey school structure, with communal facilities including an assembly hall and kitchen on the ground floor and classrooms, with further classrooms and a library upstairs.
Barrow’s planning committee is recommended to approve the plans when it meets on Tuesday April 28, if outstanding matters with design, drainage and ecological mattters were resolved.
Council officers said the design of the building was somewhat disappointing.
The majority of the façade will be constructed in red brick, incorporating geometric patterns and a variety of brick bonds.
A report to councillors said: “It is neither an outstanding or innovative contemporary building, nor a traditionally designed building and as a result it falls somewhere between the two and perhaps risks appearing somewhat dated, bland and generic.”
The inclusion of public art was also suggested by officers, but with no such provision having been made to date.
