Plans updated for grammar school campus at former Clayton Hospital

Work is currently underway to transform the historic 19th Century site into a new grammar school campus.

Wakefield Grammar School Foundation, whose schools neighbour the site to the north of the city, was granted permission to carry out the work in 2021.

Documents submitted to Wakefield Council earlier this month said the project had stalled due to the Covid pandemic and rising costs.

Amended plans have been put forward to the local authority due to the delay in completing the work.

The new scheme relates mainly to landscaping, parking and boundary treatment works.

Most of the buildings on the site have already been demolished after councillors gave the go-ahead for them to be bulldozed more than four years ago.

The hospital’s pavilion building, which dates back to 1854, still remains and is due to be restored and refurbished.

Sports facilities for students at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School (QEGS) and Wakefield Girls’ High School (WGHS), including a multi-use games arena, will also be built.

A design and access statement submitted on behalf of the organisation said: “The Covid-19 outbreak caused a significant level of disruption and delay to the delivery of these plans.

“The majority of the school’s fundraising activities from March 2020 to December 2021 were put on hold.

“With the school being a charity, this had a detrimental impact on funding and income streams.

“In addition, the construction industry subsequently faced a supply chain crisis, which has led to an increase in the cost of materials.

“The high demand and short supply of skilled construction labour has also led to construction teams being able to command premium prices.

“A culmination of the aforementioned factors, outside of the foundation’s control, caused a delay on the delivery of the scheme and, as a result, the outline application lapsed before all the relevant conditions could be formally discharged.”

Clayton Hospital was established by local philanthropists to provide free healthcare to Wakefield residents in the decades before the NHS.

The hospital shut in 2012 then became derelict for around a decade and was subject to vandalism before being acquired by the foundation.

In 2016, it was named among the top ten most endangered buildings in the country by the Victorian Society.

Redevelopment has been supported by Wakefield Civic Society.

In September last year, it was announced that QEGS and WGHS, two of Yorkshire’s oldest single-sex schools, would merge in the wake of the government’s planned VAT hike on fees.

Governors said they would become known as Wakefield Grammar School from Autumn 2026.

Foundation governor Helen Massay previously said: “The foundation has been providing education in Wakefield for 430 years.

“We will strive to ensure that this exciting project is a beacon of excellence of which Wakefield will be proud.

“Time, care and investment from all parties will ensure the proposals will be sympathetic to its surroundings and will not only benefit the schools, but the wider community.

“Clayton Hospital sits at a key entry point to the city.

“By approving this application, the economic benefits and positive message this will send out will be that Wakefield is a forward-thinking city.”