Press release: Turf-cutting ceremony at Leeds
21 May 2007
Leeds City Council Press Release
The man overseeing the transformation of every secondary school in England has lent a helping hand on a £240m project to give 14 Leeds schools state of the art learning environments.
Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools (PfS) - the organisation delivering the government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and Academies programme - joined young people from Allerton High School at a special turf-cutting ceremony yesterday.
The ceremony marks a milestone in a programme which will see Allerton High and five other Leeds schools move into some the country’s most advanced facilities in 2008, with another eight to be completed over the following two years.
Leeds successfully bid to be in the first wave of the BSF programme to rebuild or renew all 3,500 secondary schools in England and, despite the size of the project, Leeds has since become one of the fastest authorities to reach the stage where work can begin on site.
Leeds City Council, Education Leeds, PfS and the Interserve-led consortium Environments 4 Learning (E4L) have formed the partnership to design, build and maintain the schools.
Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, said:
"Leeds is one of the largest Metropolitan District Councils in the country and I see a clear commitment from all who I have met today to ensuring that strong and effective schools sit at the heart of this vibrant community.
“The partnership between Leeds City Council, Education Leeds and Partnerships for Schools will make a real difference to thousands of young people as well as the local community giving them the learning environments they deserve.
“Progress achieved in Leeds provides a shining example for other local authorities engaged in BSF around the country."
Tim met with members of staff and young people from Allerton High who had been involved in the process of designing the school’s new home, which will be the first in the country to house a purpose-built multi-faith centre.
Councillor Richard Harker, support executive member for children’s services, said:
“We want the best for all our children, young people and colleagues, and have now attracted over £450m investment in Leeds’ school buildings.
“The BSF programme will give over 16,000 of our city’s young people fantastic facilities 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.”
Ros Vahey, deputy chief executive of Education Leeds, said:
“This project is bringing some of the most innovative and inspiring facilities in the country to Leeds.
“They are built around the needs and aspirations of our talented school-based colleagues, our wonderful young people and their communities.
“These are facilities which will help thousands of young people in Leeds to be happy, healthy, safe and increasingly successful.”
Dougie Sutherland, managing director of Interserve Investments Ltd, said:
"We're proud to be part of today's ceremony which marks a significant moment in the educational future for the community.
“We look forward to working with all our partners here over the coming years to help unlock the full potential of the children of Leeds through the new facilities we'll be building and operating."
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.
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.
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
Partnerships for Schools
Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is responsible for delivering the government's secondary school renewal programme, Building Schools for the Future (BSF). PfS work with local authorities and the private sector to rebuild or renew every one of England's 3,500 state secondary schools during the 15-year lifetime of the programme.
