Hundreds of school building projects get fast tracked

580 schools in England have been given the green light to receive funding from the Condition Improvement Fund to transform their facilities and improve their school buildings.

The funding will be used to repair and upgrade school facilities, and also allows for a small number of expansion projects to increase school capacity.

Projects range from the upgrading of boilers to new green, energy-efficient models, to the complete refurbishment of a classroom block with brand new facilities.

The works can begin as soon as schools are ready, and the majority should be completed this financial year.

The funding comes from the £560 million announced by the Prime Minister last month.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: "We have worked at great speed to release this additional £560 million of condition funding to schools for projects this year to kick-start the economy and transform the buildings so vital for excellent teaching.

"We have now allocated over £2 billion this year to improve the condition of our school buildings, paving the way for our new transformative ten-year school building programme starting later this year with over £1 billion funding for the first wave of 50 schools."

The 580 building projects are supported by over £180 million in funding distributed through the Department’s Condition Improvement Fund. They have been selected based on bids submitted to the fund for the main funding round earlier this year.

The remainder of the £560 million is being provided to local authorities, larger multi-academy trusts and large voluntary aided school bodies to spend on improving the condition of their schools.

 

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