EC Harris 'Building Schools for the Future'

EC Harris has completed work on the newly built Boldon School.

International consultancy EC Harris has completed work on the newly built Boldon School to the delight of Head teachers in the area who have inspected the quality of its learning environment and are eagerly awaiting the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme for South Tyneside and Gateshead (STAG).

The new state of the art school covers 11,500 square metres and will cater for approximately 1000, 11 to 16 year old pupils when it opens its doors this October.

Its facilities include a theatre with a 220 occupancy and a four lane 25 metre long swimming pool.

EC Harris has managed the construction of the school, which was built through the Private Finance Initiative.

Boldon School is in advance of the standard for South Tyneside and Gateshead BSF's initial four schools and one Primary Care Centre worth GBP72 million which are programmed for completion in 2010.

David Hern, Partner at EC Harris in Newcastle, explains: "The Building Schools for the Future initiative has been launched as part of the government's drive to improve education by ensuring that school buildings and the overall learning environment they provide, meet the needs of modern teaching requirements.

"This has resulted in LEAs working hard to make improvements by modernising existing buildings, updating practices and services as well as embarking on new building programmes.

The Building Schools for the Future programme is designed to enhance and focus this effort, but it also increases the demands on LEAs in managing major improvement programmes.

David continues: "Most LEAs simply don't have the in-house resources that are required to deliver such a major programme of works.

As a result LEAs require a high level of specialised expertise in order to successfully deliver multi-site, large scale and complex construction projects that have to meet a challenging timetable with a disparate set of stakeholders".

EC Harris already has an established track record in the Building Schools for the Future initiative and facilitated the formation of the first Local Education Partnership (LEP) with Bristol City Council and Partnership for Schools to provide the capital for the new build and refurbishment of the city's secondary school estate.

David adds: "A comprehensive and integrated approach to the Building Schools for the Future programme ensures that the projects are being completed in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

This approach provides open channels of communication between all parties involved in the project which results in a quick decision making process.

It also means procurement savings can be made and the schools can be completed cheaper and faster benefiting the pupils of the North East.

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