An 'iconic' oval school is expected to help ease pressure on school places after Hammersmith and Fulham Council granted planning permission.

Hammersmith Academy will be built on the site of Stamford House, which was a secure unit for young offenders in Cathnor Road, Shepherd's Bush.

The permission was granted just a week after the London Councils coalition released news that 120 pupils in Hammersmith and Fulham have not yet been given a secondary school place at any of the schools they chose.

This pressure on school places will be eased by the Academy, which will take 780 pupils when it reaches capacity in 2016.

Building work on the futuristic structure is due to begin in August and the school will take its first pupils in September 2011.

Cathnor Park Action Group is keen to see the four-storey academybuilt. Chairman Annabel Clarke, of Greenside Road, Shepherd's Bush, said: "This will give people living here another education choice."

The Mercers' Company of London and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists will donate £1million each towards the building costs.

The Government will pay the balance of the construction bill.

Rebecca Lawrence, of Boscombe Road, Hammersmith, is chairman of the Friends of Hammersmith Academy, formed to ensure parents' views are taken into account.

The mother pointed out The Mercers also support St Paul's Schools and The Thomas Telford Academy in the West Midlands.

She added: "Thomas Telford seems to be that holy grail of a truly comprehensive school. The Mercers will bring all their experience to this school.

"At primary level there is a really good mix of children from different backgrounds and it would be brilliant if that could continue at secondary level."

Currently, 62 per cent of Hammersmith and Fulham children are educated at secondary schools outside the borough.

Worshipful Company of Information Technologists clerk, Michael Grant, said: "It is very futuristic. It has been designed by a team that has designed and built successful academies already. It will be the sort of place people will be proud of." 

London livery companies were originally formed to protect traders' interests, but today they raise and distribute money to good causes.

The Mercers are the oldest livery company, set up by Royal Charter in 1394 to control trading in fine fabrics.

The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, founded in 1986, is London's newest livery company.