Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is a 15-year UK Government programme designed to raise educational attainment. In addition to working with private sector partners to rebuild or renew every one of England’s 3,500 secondary schools, BSF provides for new information and communications technology (ICT), improved catering and facilities management, and making the schools available to the whole community.
Raising aspirations, improving life chance
In Bristol, the first BSF, a Skanska ID-led consortium is delivering a 25-year contract to finance, build, equip and operate four schools, as well as a 10-year partnership to develop world class educational facilities in the city.
The partnership has already been a great success.
When the first BSF school, the Skanska developed and run Bristol Brunel Academy, opened in September 2007, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown went to visit it. Speaking at the launch, he said: “I look forward to seeing the very real difference that this school makes here in Bristol – to students, to teachers and to the local community more broadly.”
Armando Di-Finizio, Principal of Bristol Brunel Academy, says that the new school had a huge effect: “The impact was amazing. The students have seen the school almost as a gift to them and as proof that someone is paying attention to them and to the community. As a result they treat the place with real respect, there’s no vandalism and their own self-esteem and aspirations have been raised.”
A survey of the views of students at the school confirms the improved attitude. Students who felt proud of their school increased from 43% to 77% and those who enjoyed going to school increased from 50% to 61%. The new school also created a real reduction in some of the negative perceptions students had previously held, with those who perceived that vandalism was at least ‘a bit of a problem’ in their school decreasing from 84% to 33%. With a full range of services being supplied by the Skanska consortium, the way the school runs has also won praise. In the words of the Academy’s Head Boy, Chris Holbourn, “Even the food is better.” The other three schools in the first phase, Bristol Metropolitan Academy, Brislington Enterprise College and Bridge Learning Campus, opened in April and September 2008, and January 2009.
Skanska Infrastructure Development’s director of education, Steve Cooper, says the scale and diversity of Skanska’s operations has made the project work: “A Skanska consortium offers true integration and the strength and capacity of Skanska to back up our promises. We’ve delivered the first truly transformational schools in the UK on time, in some exceptionally challenging conditions.
“We also have people with the skills to make the essential link between the built environment and IT, taking the lid off the massive opportunities that this offers to deliver education in a completely new and exciting way.”
