The target follows the appointment of Bedford Borough Council’s head of school infrastructure and partnerships Fran Cox as its new operations director.

Cox will lead growth plans at Sunesis which is jointly owned by Willmott Dixon and Scape Group.

The division has already delivered 28 primary schools since its first school was commissioned in 2011, alongside a further 40 school extensions, creating over 18,000 new places in total.

Sunesis currently offers a range of three pre-designed primary schools offered with absolute certainty of cost and fast-track programmes to complete within nine months of being commissioned.

Tim Carey, Willmott Dixon’s national product director, said: “Fran’s arrival is an important next stage of our growth as an established provider of new schools.

“Her experience at Bedford Borough Council will give us the quantum leap to roll out Sunesis to even more customers, supported by our new ability to licence the system for other contractors to build.”

Cox said: “It’s a really exciting time to join Sunesis – there is huge potential and having experienced Sunesis schools as a client, I know they have already been extremely valuable to councils in meeting their chronic need for new school places.

“Sunesis offers clear timescales for delivery, flexibility where it’s needed, and absolute certainty of cost, providing an attractive solution for local authorities. I am very much looking forward to driving Sunesis through its next phase of growth.”

Mark Robinson, Scape Group chief executive, added: “Fran’s experience in commissioning new schools provides a real depth of insight into the needs of local authorities and the issues they face.

“The country has a very significant school building challenge ahead, with over 2,000 new schools needed in the next few years, and Fran will help Sunesis to play a vital role in filling the gap in school places nationally.”