Agreement reached on construction of new Wellingborough prison
Plans to deliver up to 10,000 decent prison places have taken a significant step forward following the appointment of a contractor to build a new jail.
Ministers confirmed that a price of £253 million ex VAT has been agreed with Kier for the design and construction of the new prison at Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire. Work on the 1,680-place category C resettlement prison is scheduled to begin next month and to be completed by autumn 2021.
The new prison will be located at the same site as the former HMP Wellingborough, which closed in 2012.
The new prison is part of the Government’s Prison Estate Transformation Programme, which is reforming and modernising the prison estate to ensure conditions are suitable for rehabilitation of offenders while reducing crowding across the estate.
Along with Wellingborough, the programme will deliver a new prison at the former HMP & YOI Glen Parva in Leicestershire and a new house block at HMP Stocken, in Rutland.
Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said:
I am committed to the building of up to 10,000 modern and decent prison places to replace old, expensive and unsuitable accommodation, and the start of work at Wellingborough is an important step forward.
Providing offenders with decent conditions and regimes is absolutely key to turning their lives around and ultimately keeping the public safe.
Mark Pengelly, executive director of Kier Major Projects, commented:
We’re very proud to have been appointed to deliver the new resettlement prison at Wellingborough and look forward to working closely with MOJ and using our experience in new-build prison programmes to deliver first-class rehabilitation facilities.
We are dedicated to investing in the communities in which we work and our commitment to apprenticeships and job opportunities will not only help address the skills shortage that our industry faces but also provide a lasting legacy for the people of Wellingborough.