Beard begins £12m schools building programme

Beard will undertake school building contracts totalling £12m under a new four-year framework agreement with Oxfordshire County Council.

Swindon and Oxford-based Beard will undertake school building contracts totalling £12m under a new four-year framework agreement with Oxfordshire County Council.

The first project is a £0.9m two-storey, six-classroom extension at Carterton Community College.

Construction work started this month and will be completed in October.

Over the next few months Beard teams will also begin three further contracts for the council - a sports hall and two assembly halls, each worth between £0.9m and £1.5m.

Beard competed in a shortlist of nine to become one of three construction companies awarded framework agreements with the council.

The agreements are designed to provide the council with greater certainty and consistency in terms of cost, quality and service levels.

John Youle, Construction Director at Beard Oxford, said: "We believe we won our framework agreement because we have a good track record of delivering schools and other projects and working safely and considerately in occupied premises".

"Our costings are competitive, and we have demonstrated in our past work for the council that the level of service we provide represents good value for money".

The agreement means that Beard will be involved in the programming and planning of projects at an early stage, and will be able to use its experience to improve the 'buildability' of each scheme.

"Our construction teams will be looking out for efficiencies that we can apply to every project," said John.

"We therefore expect to generate significant time and cost savings for the council over the lifetime of the framework agreement".

Oxfordshire County Council's Head of Property, Neil Monaghan, said: "We are very pleased to welcome Beard Oxford into our building construction programmes as a framework partner and look forward to working with them".

"Our intention is that, along with the county's consultants, our framework contractors will help us deliver high quality buildings with added whole life value".

Beard operates throughout central southern England and undertakes construction projects worth up to £6m.

Established in 1892, Beard has offices in Swindon and Oxford and employs more than 150 people.

Beard's Managing Director, Mark Beard, was Oxfordshire Businessman of the Year in 2004.

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