New wave of BSF investment to stimulate construction recruitment
An additional six local authorities are to receive capital investment from the Building Schools for the Future programme this year.
The funds should help provide construction jobs in Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Gateshead, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Sutton. £420m granted under the scheme will be shared between the six authorities, to be spent on rebuilding or refurbishing local secondary schools.
The BSF programme has provided a boost to construction recruitment throughout the economic recession. Including those just announced, it will have funded the construction and renovation of schools in 101 local authorities. To date, 149 schools in 40 of these local authorities have opened their doors with help from BSF funds.
Apart from Gateshead council, this will be the first time any of these local authorities have received any money under the scheme.
Partnerships for Schools, the organisation who administers the BSF scheme, said that funding was granted to these authorities because they were ready to "hit the ground running" and move quickly on urgent building projects. In this financial year, the BSF has launched 24 new projects.
Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, said: "The general plan is for a group to join every quarter.'' However, Education Investor reports that Byles admitted that the possibility of an incoming Conservative government following the general election, raised questions about the future of the scheme past the second quarter.
"For the last three years BSF has met or exceeded all key delivery targets and we are now seeing a convergence of perception and reality - with around 90% of all local authorities and private sector companies involved in BSF agreeing that the programme is now delivering."
Author: William Hobson
Keywords: construction jobs, construction recruitment