Balfour Beatty win the multi million pound project
Ealing Council’s cabinet last night appointed Balfour Beatty Education as selected bidder for its £300million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. This ends an
11-month process to select a private sector partner to work alongside the council and BSFi (the investment arm of Partnerships for Schools) in delivering upgrades and expansions across the borough’s schools.
The BSF programme will see 17 high schools and special schools rebuilt, refurbished and modernised with 15 receiving significant investment in new information communications technology (ICT). A completely new high school will built in north Greenford.
Balfour Beatty Education has already developed detailed plans for the first two schools to benefit from the programme. The initial phase of construction will see Dormers Wells High School, Southall, completely rebuilt and The Cardinal Wiseman School, Greenford, partially rebuilt and remodelled. Both will receive major investment in their ICT.
Construction on both schools is scheduled to start in October. Upgrades at the other schools will commence between 2011-2013. All work is expected to be complete by 2014.
Martin Smith, Chief Executive at Ealing Council said: “I am delighted to announce this important milestone in Ealing’s BSF programme. We are proud of our high performing schools and this investment will build on those achievements and help to secure even more success.
“The bids we received were of a very high quality, and I am convinced that Balfour Beatty Education is the right company to work with us in delivering improved schools which will inspire pupils, parents and staff.”
David Swarbrick, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Education said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Ealing’s schools and we look forward to developing a Local Education Partnership with the Council which will deliver excellent design and value for all schools in the programme as well as maximising the economic benefit to the borough from BSF investment.
“The size of the programme is also an excellent opportunity for Balfour Beatty Education and our ICT partners RM to bring the experience gained from our two existing London LEPs to successfully deliver Ealing’s programme”
Ealing’s ICT investment will be delivered by software and infrastructure provider, RM. Terry Sweeney, Chief Executive of RM, said: "Ealing schools are already extremely successful and well provisioned in terms of ICT. Through BSF they're looking for a partner that can help take them to the next level.
“We're absolutely delighted to be working as part of the Balfour Beatty Education team to help deliver that step change. Ealing's BSF programme is a great opportunity for everyone involved and we can't wait to get started."
The construction work and school improvements will be delivered via a company called a Local Education Partnership (LEP). Ealing Council, Balfour Beatty Education and BSFi will come together to form the LEP.
The decision to appoint Balfour Beatty Education as selected bidder was taken at an extraordinary meeting of the council’s cabinet on Thursday, 15 April 2010.
All cabinet decisions are subject to call-in for a period of five working days from the date of publication of the minutes of the meeting. That means that the decision may have to be reviewed if notice is received within the call-in period.
The council and Balfour Beatty Education will now continue to fine-tune the proposals and expect the contract to be awarded in September.
Building Schools for the Future is a national programme and is funded by the Government, Ealing Council and schools. All plans are subject to planning consent and this will involve substantial statutory consultation.
April 21, 2010
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