Barnet Council chooses partner for new school construction » Education » 24dash.com

Barnet Council has selected a major construction company to be its partner in building the first new schools to be provided by its ambitious Primary School Capital Investment Programme (PSCIP).

Kier London, a leading building and civil engineering contractor, emerged as the council’s preferred partner after a competitive selection process, and will now build the six schools in the first wave of PSCIP.

Kier was among three construction companies which had competed to produce the best and most value-for-money designs under Barnet Council’s go-it-alone scheme to rebuild or refurbish its ageing primary schools.

The winning design is for a new Whitings Hill School at Underhill near Barnet. This will act as the role model for the other five PSCIP schools. A planning application for Whitings Hill will be submitted in May and is expected to be considered by the local planning authority in June.

Assuming that planning permission is granted, work will start on site in summer this year and the new school is expected to open its doors in 2009.

The new school will cater for about 420 pupils and will replace the existing building which will be demolished. The new building is designed to provide extended use of facilities for both the school and the community.

Whitings Hill will be a “green” school using several forms of renewable technology. This will aid energy conservation but also means that 20 per cent of the building’s energy needs are met from renewable sources. Among these will be a ground source heat pump that will both heat the building in winter and provide some cooling in summer.

The school will also have solar panels, hot water solar tubes, and a small wind turbine, and rainwater from the building will be collected and re-used.

Barnet’s PSCIP scheme is a unique, locally-controlled and funded solution to a pressing need to replace buildings at the end of their useful life. It will be paid for by sales of surplus school land, grant income, developers’ contributions, and prudential and short-term borrowing.

PSCIP aims to provide Barnet with high quality, purpose-built, sustainable new schools to support improved educational achievement. Barnet’s primary schools are already among the best performing in England.

 Kier London’s managing director, Peter Everard, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Kier London.  We are looking forward to working closely with the London Borough of Barnet to enhance their reputation for providing excellence in education.”