An “exciting” expansion of an Andover school is underway with a new classroom being added to the site.

Harrow Way School, located on the eponymous road, saw its new science classroom arrive on site on Thursday, August 26. The modular classroom was lowered into place by a crane, following planning approval from Hampshire County Council earlier this year.

Posting online, the school said: “The Harrow Way site is continuing to improve over the summer! As well as the normal programme of holiday works, our brand new modular science classroom arrived on site today.

“With support from Hampshire County Council, it will provide us with an additional modern laboratory.”

Plans for the new classroom were submitted earlier this year, following analysis of the school’s pupil numbers over the coming years. The school currently has 955 pupils, and is set to increase by a further 30 by 2021/2022, with the classroom to be on site for a period of seven years to meet this increase in pupil numbers

The hope is that the classroom, to be used to teach science, will be a stopgap while plans to expand the school permanently are explored.

The new building will measure around 107 square metres once complete, and was built in a factory before being delivered to the site. These are now being craned into position before being bolted together to form a single building.

The classroom itself contains a science lab, with a mobile fume cupboard, prep room, store cupboard and lobby, with seating for 30 students and a teacher.

Construction will take around six weeks, and it will be designed to blend in with the other school buildings in the area. Power and water supplies will be provided from the existing school systems, while a new tarmac footpath will be laid to the classroom.

Prior to construction, concerns had been raised about the archaeology of the area, with the site said to lie “within an area of known archaeological activity”.

However, Hampshire County Council’s chief archaeologist noted that “archaeology should not present an overriding concern” to the plans, and that to mitigate any impacts an archaeologist should be present to monitor any groundworks.