Creating a more resilient prison estate

In 2019, the UK Government committed to the New Prisons Programme (NPP), building 20,000 new prison places across the UK with around 10,000 of these places to be created through new prison construction. Mace is supporting the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to achieve these targets and has acted as Delivery Partner for two prisons opened as part of the NPP so far, HMP Five Wells in 2022 and HMP Fosse Way in 2023.

HMP Fosse Way is a new £286 million Category C resettlement prison for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in Wigston, South Leicester, on the site of the former Glen Parva Young Offenders Institute.

The new site provides an additional 1,715 prisoner places to HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) at a critical time to support national prison capacity requirements.

Overseeing the entirety of the MoJ’s New Prisons Programme, Mace has been able to implement incremental design improvements, with emphasis on repeatable designs that can be delivered at speed.

Utilising a Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) approach, Mace implemented offsite manufacturing on the project to ensure efficient and quick delivery. In total, 12,701 precast concrete panels were used across the seven houseblock buildings, CASU and some specific areas of the ancillary buildings. Over 1,900 windows were cast in place off site; over 1,680 of these were specialised cell barless windows.

The project team worked hard to increase the amount of MEP works undertaken off site with c. 57,000 electrical components consisting of containment, shower heads, drainage, and more cast into place before delivery to site, including 1,764 underfloor heating mats. On top of this, the project innovated to produce prefabricated risers. A large proportion of MEP was fixed into 231 four storey risers, which were manufactured off site then carefully slotted into the precast once built.

Main works construction started in August 2020 and completed 33 months later in May 2023. Peaking at over 1,000 operatives on site, the project maintained an outstanding health and safety record with over three-million-person hours worked without a critical incident. Faced with significant delivery challenges, such as Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent supply chain disruptions and hyperinflation that took place as a result, the project teams delivered HMP Fosse Way without delaying MoJ’s key first-prisoner-in date. This is a testament to the team’s drive to find innovative solutions when faced with complex problems.

HMP Fosse Way won Infrastructure Project of the Year at the Government Project Delivery Awards 2024, noted as the most prestigious award of the night, and is also shortlisted for Project of the Year over £50m at the Construction News Awards 2024.