BUILDING work is set to start on a new £3.25million teaching block at Westcliff High School for Girls, after the council approved the scheme.

The school will begin work on the state-of-the-art block by July and hopes to complete the building within a year.

It will rise to three storeys and contain eight English classrooms, one psychology classroom, a staff room, conference room, toilets and a goods delivery area.

A glazed corridor will link the extension with the main building, and a maths cupboard and staff toilets will be removed to make way for the link.

In a newsletter to parents, headteacher Dr Paul Hayman said: "Raising all the required money for this building project is proving quite difficult, but we are determined to find the necessary resources to ensure this fantastic new facility for the school can be built."

The building will be paid for from the sale of land in Manchester Drive for the development of houses and flats.

There has also been funding from Southend Council and contributions from parents via the school's general purpose fund.

The building will have environmentally-friendly features, including natural ventilation through cowls on the roof, low energy lighting with movement sensors and sensor controlled taps to reduce water consumption.

It will also have dual flush toilet cisterns and solar glass to trap heat in winter and reflect it in the summer.

However, in his letter, Dr Hayman said a further £90,000 to £120,000 is needed on top of the cost of the building works to pay for a green energy system.

He explained: "We are currently looking into the possibility of installing a ground source heat pump and pipework system that would allow much of the building's heat requirements to be provided from this renewable energy source.

"If successful, this facility would also allow a degree of cooling to be provided in the summer months by running the system in reverse."