The Gorton Education Village project in East Manchester will create a single-site campus on an eight acre site providing 900 co-educational spaces and 110 specialist support special educational needs (SEN) places. This 100 per cent. new build project will combine Cedar Mount High School with Melland SEN High School. Construction commenced in September 2006 and the Education Village is due to be operational at the start of the new academic year in September 2008.
Manchester city council has been allocated £202 million of Government capital grant to Manchester for the schools in its wave 1 Building Schools for the Future project and the council has set aside approximately £10 million to supplement this. The Government funding includes £16.4 million for Cedar Mount School and £9.7 million for Melland School. Manchester city council has established a programme-level contingency fund, some of which may be allocated to the Gorton Education Village project.