BSF partner to create work for Sandwell people

Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the UK’s biggest ever school buildings investment programme. Launched by the government in 2004, BSF aims to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England over the next few years.

In Sandwell alone, the BSF programme will see £370m invested in the borough’s secondary schools, providing state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities for community use. Twenty schools in Sandwell are expected to benefit from BSF.

Now we’re delighted to tell you that Sandwell Council has named its private-sector partner on BSF: Environments for Learning (E4L), which has expertise in construction, educational transformation, facilities management and ICT. E4L will become part of Sandwell’s Local Education Partnership.

It is expected that E4L will begin work on two sample sites by the summer, Rowley Regis Learning Campus and Smethwick Learning Campus. The buildings will be open and fully operational by 2011.

And here comes the really good news. As Sandwell Council’s chosen partner for the project, E4L wants to support as many local jobs and companies as possible, so they are creating 145 craft apprentice places for people in the borough.

E4L has also pledged to:

* incorporate Sandwell Council’s preferred suppliers into the E4L supply chain wherever possible and post 100 per cent of business opportunities created by their BSF contract on finditinsandwell

* work in partnership with sub-contractors, suppliers and the local community to ensure that Sandwell people are given priority when it comes to the jobs created by the programme

* help local businesses to become ‘pre-qualified’, ensuring they can meet the standards required to pitch for the work (in health and safety, public liability and so on)

* ensure that all sub-group partners work together to increase the number and diversity of suppliers used through the programme

* put Sandwell companies forward for other consortium business opportunities

* develop the project’s key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure training and the amount of local labour used (and to build these KPIs into all construction contracts, and also apply them to subcontractors).

The finditinsandwell team is also pleased to tell you that we’ll be organising a fantastic ‘Meet the E4L buyer’ event in the summer, giving you face-to-face meetings with the people behind the BSF projects. Keep an eye on our Events page for further information.

[Image: artist's impression of a BSF development. Courtesy of Sandwell Council.]