New School Projects Announced
8 April 2010
The Costain team handling the renewal of education
facilities in the London borough of Lewisham is gearing up for a
busy year after the local education authority issued the go-ahead
for a cluster of new school projects.
Learning21, a joint venture between Costain and VT Group, was
awarded the Lewisham Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Project
in 2007. BSF is a government programme to renew all of the
country's secondary school estate, and at Lewisham, Costain and VT
have formed a Local Education Partnership (LEP) with the London
Borough of Lewisham and Building Schools for the Future
Investments.
Costain has already completed the first two schools in the
Lewisham BSF. These are now fully in use and delivering education
in a first class state-of-the-art environment.
As a part of the ongoing programme, Lewisham has now issued New
Project Instructions for no fewer than eight schools. "Effectively
this is a letter from the Authority to the LEP asking us to prepare
a proposal for the design and construction of the schools," said
Jerry Williams, Costain's Education Sector Director.
"The Authority provide their requirements, and an education
'vision', and we develop a design, working with the schools and
others, such as the facilities management and the IT providers. The
schemes go through a two-stage development process - an initial
outline design and cost plan, then the full design and pricing
leading to contract award."
The approximate value of the remaining programme of work, which
will consist mainly of secondary schools, is £130 million. The
projects are a mix of new-build and refurbishment, and are procured
either under a Private Finance Initiative, or Design & Build
arrangement. The most advanced of these latest new schools,
Deptford Green, is also one of the most substantial, with a
construction value of approximately £28 million.
"It takes us just over a year from getting the New Project
Instructions to getting underway on site," said Jerry. "The
projects will be starting on site late 2010 and 2011; the build
times vary, but the construction will mainly be 2011-12."
Pictured: Sedgehill School, Lewisham, London