Multi-school project delivers individual results
Leeds successfully upgrades ten primary sites

 

In common with many local authorities throughout the UK, Leeds City Council was faced with the need to substantially upgrade many of its existing schools to meet the challenges of modern education. A major part of this work was allocated to NewSchools, which was awarded the contract to carry out refurbishment and expansion work on ten primary schools throughout the region. The objectives were to improve facilities, remove split site primaries, add integrated child care and provide community spaces where possible.

 

Each school presented different challenges that had to be carefully negotiated. Examples include restricted size on some sites, complicated planning requirements and troublesome access. This required NewSchools to put together a management team with the variety of skills necessary to ensure that they were resolved effectively. To achieve this NewSchools assembled a consortium of partners to provide funding, construction, facilities management, architectural consultancy and mechanical & electrical engineering. Each partner was chosen on the basis of their proven experience in providing the specific disciplines required for each school.

 

An example was the fact that one site, Horsforth St Margaret's, is located within a conservation area. Inevitably this led to planning concerns which were overcome by retaining the desirable elements of the building and reflecting them sympathetically in the new designs.

 

To maintain consistently high standards within the budget a modular approach was developed based around a standard palette of materials. However this was adjusted in each case according to the local context and prevailing planning considerations. The specific alterations or additions made to each school were developed following discussions between builders, architects, schools and the local authority - and communication between all parties remained open throughout to ensure that the final result matched the expectations of those involved.

 

A number of core features were included in all schools, with environmental and energy concerns at the forefront. In real terms this meant the incorporation of grey water recycling, solar panels, wind turbines, low energy lights and the use of sustainable materials where possible. By deploying these measures across all ten sites the long term impact of the associated financial savings was greatly increased whilst the benefits of a coordinated schedule of installation kept the cost of these special measures to an affordable level.

 

One key element of the project was to ensure that all of the schools had the provision to deliver fully integrated child care for three and four year olds, giving widespread access to a service that is valued by the community. Each of these facilities had to be provided through OfSTED registered premises.

 

The NewSchools administered consortium was also contracted to provide a full range of hard and soft service. To oversee these services an on-site superintendent was employed for each school, making it easy for the staff to quickly resolve any needs as they occurred. The establishment of clear and simple lines of communication in this way is a major part of NewSchools approach and is in line with its aim to make the transition from the previous structure to the new PFI model as simple as possible.

 

The provision of ICT was also an essential aspect of each school's refurbishment and the ICT facilities were developed as dedicated suites or on an open plan basis according to the specific layout and needs of the individual school. All classrooms benefited from interactive whiteboards and ICT provision as a whole was designed with the capacity for an expansion of up to twenty five percent.

 

In such a complicated and wide-reaching project it is a testimony to the commitment of all parties that nine of the schools were delivered on time with a one month delay at the tenth. Feedback has been universally positive with staff anticipating a measurable improvement in educational outcomes resulting from the new facilities. The Leeds project is a clear demonstration of how NewSchools can adapt the PFI models to successfully transform a large number of distinct establishments, applying flexible solutions that acknowledge and ultimately deliver the unique needs of each school.