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Different class: new schools on way
THE bulldozers are primed for action after finance chiefs rubber- stamped the contracts for the biggest schools building programme in the borough since the 1950s.
Design and construction contracts worth £30million for work at St Augustine’s in Kilburn and St George’s in Maida Vale were signed off last week – making them the second wave of schools in Westminster to benefit from the government’s £152m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.
It ends months of painstaking negotiation and design headaches caused by the cramped nature of the sites.
Construction is already under way in three schools: St Marylebone School, Pimlico Academy and Westminster City School, with 2011 the forecast completion date.
At St George’s in Lanark Road, pupils are set to benefit from a spectacular rooftop playground – a godsend for teachers who have long bemoaned the size of current facilities that make breaktime a “nightmare”. The new playground had sparked health and safety fears among parents, but planners were assured the two-metre-high walls and overhead netting will see off any danger. The work will also include new classrooms and a science block, which will help swell the school’s capacity from 700 to 900 pupils when complete.
At St Augustine’s in Oxford Road a new three-storey block will be constructed, with significant refurbishment to existing buildings and a new off-site community sports hall.
Later this month contracts will be signed off for work to start at Grey Coat Hospital School in Westminster. Builders will have to work out how to protect the Grade II-listed, 17th-century core of the main school building when they start.
The overall contractor for the work which will eventually transform all 10 of the borough’s secondary schools is Bouygyes Partnership for Education and Community.
Michael O’Connor, Westminster Council’s Strategic Director for Children and Young People, said: “Our aim is to provide the best possible start in life for every child in Westminster and we are very pleased to be starting the second phase of the BSF programme, which will transform education provision in Westminster. The new facilities at these schools will not only make a real difference to pupils but also the wider community.”
Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, said: “This latest milestone in the delivery of Westminster’s Building Schools for the Future project is good news for students, teachers and the local community who will benefit from new and improved teaching, learning and sporting facilities in the heart of the city.” |
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