Leeds signs contracts to press ahead with BSF
03 April 2007
Leeds City Council Press Release
Work has started on a project which will bring some of the country’s best learning environments to Leeds and help transform education for over 16,000 of the city’s young people.
Leeds City Council today signed the contract which allows builders to press ahead with the first five of 14 state-of-the-art facilities to be built through the £240m Building Schools for the Future programme.
The contract forms a partnership between the council, Education Leeds, the government’s Partnership for Schools* and Environments 4 Learning (E4L) to design, build and maintain the schools.
Under phase one of the BSF programme Allerton High, Allerton Grange, Pudsey Grangefield and Rodillian will be completely rebuilt, while Cockburn and Temple Moor will also be transformed through newly-built facilities along with a wholesale refurbishment.
All phase one schools are set to be completed by 2008, except Allerton Grange which will be completed the following year. One more newly-built school and seven further major refurbishments will be completed by 2010.
Despite the size of the programme Leeds City Council is the quickest authority in the country to reach the ‘financial close’ stage of BSF, having only selected the Interserve-lead E4L as preferred bidder following a robust tendering process in November.
The E4L consortium features support services firm Interserve, Mott MacDonald, Cambridge Education and Barclays Private Equity. E4L was chosen because their approach and designs demonstrated a good understanding of the educational and community needs of Leeds and a clear commitment to continuous improvement and delivering value for money.
Councillor Richard Harker, support executive board member for childrens’ services, said:
“We want the best for all our children, young people and colleagues, and these fantastic facilities will be places where brilliant teaching and learning can flourish.
“To reach this stage so quickly has taken a huge amount of work and dedication from everyone involved in this partnership.
“We now look forward to working together to develop these exciting facilities which can raise standards and help young people and their communities to reach their potential.”
Dave Page, deputy chief executive of Leeds City Council and chair of project board, said:
“This fantastic result is the combination of three years of exceptionally challenging work involving our schools, Education Leeds, and council members and officers who have all gone more than the extra mile to secure this outcome.
“We have also achieved this timely result through the valuable support of our external advisers DL Piper and PWC.
“We can now move on to the next big challenge – ensuring this investment delivers the transformation in educational outcomes for our young people.”
Chris Edwards, chief executive of Education Leeds, said:
“We want to transform learning outcomes for our children and young people and ensure that they are happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful. We know the impact of inspiring places and this building programme is giving Leeds some of the most advanced and innovative learning environments in the country... places where we can achieve truly world class outcomes!
“We needed to rethink what our learning places look like and how they are used and E4L’s innovative designs help us do just that. They are built around the needs and aspirations of our talented school-based colleagues and the wonderful young people and to help us deliver a new universal offer for young people, families and communities.
“We have attracted over £450m of investment in our school buildings, and we will continue to look for any ways to create brilliant learning places where all our children and young people, their families and their communities can achieve brilliant outcomes.”
Adrian Ringrose, chief executive of Interserve, said:
"The lessons we have learnt building and servicing schools around the country will help us provide Leeds with the best possible learning environment for its children.
“We look forward along with our consortium partners, the City Council and Partnership for Schools, to delivering first-class schools to the city"
Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, the delivery agency for BSF, welcomed the milestone, and said:
“This is not only great news for Leeds, but also for the national BSF programme, in terms of progress towards a brighter future and better opportunities for over 3 million young people all over England.”
Leeds City Council has formed a unique specialist unit - the Public Private Partnership Unit (PPPU) – to coordinate partnerships with the private sector and support individual departments with projects like BSF. The award-winning department also worked with Education Leeds to deliver the £110m Combined Secondary School project which has given four Leeds school state-of-the-art learning environments with another two opening this September.
Allerton High School - a new building will be constructed on the existing school site. A partnership base will be included for special educational needs (SEN) provision, and accommodation provided for a multi-faith centre to further develop the school’s community links.
Allerton Grange - the existing school will be rebuilt on the current site, with the City
Learning Centre remaining in it’s current position. The new school will be smaller, reflecting demographic trends in the area. The new facilities will include a high care SEN base. The new school will open in September 2009.
Cockburn High School - the majority of the existing school building will be remodelled and refurbished. An existing science and maths wing will be demolished and replaced. The investment will develop the school’s community focus and enhance their inclusion and behaviour work.
Pudsey Grangefield School - A new school building will be constructed on the existing site. The new school will allow the school to build on its community role and extended schools facilities. The new building will be slightly smaller, reflecting demographic trends in the area.
Rodillian School - the current school will be replaced on the existing site. The Building Schools for the Future investment will boost the vocational work carried out in partnership with Joseph Priestley College and other south Leeds schools. A SEN base will also be established, to build on the inclusion work with the South Specialist Inclusive Learning Centre.
Temple Moor High School - the majority of the school will be refurbished and remodelled, with a new extension for arts, design and general teaching. The refurbishment will build on the school’s existing science specialism, boost their community focus, and increase the provision of training and vocational programmes
for 14 - 19 year olds.
Notes to Editors:
- Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is the delivery agency for Building Schools for the Future. PfS was established in April 2004 as a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), and is operated and funded under a joint venture between DfES and Partnerships UK.
- Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the largest single schools capital investment programme for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew every one of England?s 3,500 state secondary schools during the 15-year lifetime of the £45 billion programme.
About Environments for Learning (E4L)
E4L is a consortium of three leading organisations in the delivery of education services and projects. The consortium is made up of equity partners:
Interserve, Mott MacDonald (including Cambridge Education - a market leader in delivering education support services to both LEA’s and the DfES) , and Barclays Private Equity.
Advisors to the Environments for Learning Consortium:
Architects: Watkins Gray
Mentor (Faulkner Brown & GHM Rock Townsend)
Financial Advisor: Macquarie
Legal Advisor: Ashurst
Funder: Sumitomo Bank
Full details of the phases are:
Phase One (opening 2008)
Allerton High – Complete rebuild (PFI)
Cockburn – Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Pudsey Grangefield - Complete rebuild (PFI)
Rodillian - Complete rebuild (PFI)
Temple Moor - Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Phase Two (opening 2009)
Allerton Grange - Complete rebuild (PFI) (this school is being procured in Phase 1)
Crawshaw - Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Farnley Park - Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Priesthorpe - Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Amalgamation of West Leeds and Wortley - Complete rebuild (PFI)
Phase Three (opening Sep 2010)
Corpus Christi Catholic College- Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Intake - Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Mount St Marys Catholic- Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
Parklands Girls' - Part New-Build and Major Refurbishment
The Public Private Partnership Unit has achieved a number of prestigious industry awards including Best Public Sector Project Team and Best Government / Government Agency Team at the Public Private Awards May 2006. Furthermore, it has actively contributed to two of Leeds City Council’s Beacon Awards (Asset Management and Procurement) and was ‘Highly Commended’ for the Primary Schools Project in the 2006/06 National PFI Awards.
