Building Schools for the Future
This month, Hartlepool Enterprise brings news of the nationwide educational funding programme, Building Schools for the Future. On a local level, Hartlepool Council is looking to involve local businesses in the associated works to improve the town’s schools.
Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the biggest ever school buildings investment programme. The aim of BSF funding is to rebuild or renew nearly every secondary school in England. It is envisaged, all secondary aged children and young people will have access to 21st Century standard facilities, with all secondary schools either renewed or replaced within the next 15 years.
Hartlepool Council believes that BSF is a fantastic opportunity to provide many future generations of the children and young people of Hartlepool with state of the art school facilities, through this multi-million pound investment, the overall plan for which was approved early in 2009. But even more importantly this investment will give the opportunity to enable all children and young people to achieve their full potential by shaping their learning to meet their individual needs.
Working together with schools, colleges and key partners the aim is to ensure that Hartlepool’s future schools are at the heart of their local communities, with a range of services to transform learning for all ages. Inspirational facilities will help raise aspirations and lead to even greater success, at school and throughout later life.
The process of appointing a main contractor for the works is now well underway, with Balfour Beatty Construction Northern Limited and Kier North East being the two bidders developing their proposals at the current time. As part of this development process, both companies have joined forces with the Council’s Economic Development Team to arrange events to meet local businesses who may benefit from the various works to be undertaken across Hartlepool.
Mick Emerson, Hartlepool Borough Council’s Principal Economic Development Officer explained: “The council is very pleased to see that the two bidders for the main works in respect of Building Schools for the Future want to engage businesses in the development of their proposals.
“Because of the strict confidentiality of the bidding process this has meant that we have had to arrange two separate meetings, however I think it is incredibly important that businesses take the opportunity to meet the teams of both bidders and discover the extensive opportunities which will occur as a result of the contract being approved in the spring of next year.
“We anticipate that both events will be heavily subscribed so I would suggest that interested parties register as soon as possible.”
Both events will take place at Hartlepool Historic Quay, with Balfour Beatty on 7th December and Kier on 14th December, with arrival from 5.15pm for a 6pm start. People interested in attending should register with Sue Stephenson at Hartlepool Enterprise Centre on 01429 867677 or by e mailing sue.stephenson@hartlepool.gov.uk.
