According to public procurement specialists Scape Group’s latest School Places Challenge report, more than 2,000 new schools will need to be built within the next four years to accommodate the growing number of primary and secondary pupils in England. The Scape report has showed that local authorities are expecting a further 729,000 pupils in education by 2020 – an increase of 8.6% in primary school pupils and 12% in secondary school pupils in England alone. To combat this rise, the equivalent of two new schools must be created every working day. London, the South East and East of England are experiencing the highest levels of growth with more than 375,000 further primary and secondary pupils due to be added to the registers in the next four years. Of the total 2,122 new schools required – the equivalent of 12,209 primary classrooms and 12,078 secondary classrooms – London requires 507 new schools. The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham will see the largest increase in the numbers of pupils, which will require a total of 28 new schools, followed by Lambeth, Newham and Greenwich, which need 21, 37 and 25 new schools built, respectively. Away from London, Manchester will see numbers increase to nearly 19,000 extra primary and secondary pupils by 2020 – a 27% increase that will require the equivalent of 57 new schools. Rapid growth in the cities of Bristol, Peterborough, Milton Keynes, Leicester and Nottingham will also mean that new schools will become highly sought after if the necessary amount is not be built in time. Mark Robinson, Scape Group chief executive commented: “As the growth of the primary school population gathers pace, the pressure on school places will soon transfer to the secondary population, requiring a new wave of advanced school building. “The government’s preference for free schools has created uncertainty for local authorities, who are tasked with planning and building new schools, but will not be responsible for running them. Proposals for new grammar schools has further muddied the waters.”

The University of Manchester is going out to tender for phase one of a £245 million campus accommodation development. The university first called for bids for its Fallowfield Student Village project back in June last year but scrapped the process in May this year. At that time, the university estates department commented: “The final tenders received were substantially in excess of the budget and made the project unaffordable in its current form.” It is now rebidding the work with the deal restructured into three phases. Among the existing properties is the Owens Park Tower which will be demolished and replaced by 3,000 new student accommodation units. The existing accommodation at Ashburne Hall, Sheavyn House, Richmond Park and Woolton Hall is to be retained. The scheme will also see the construction of a new student hub and improved sports facilities. The university secured a finance deal with Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Company for the scheme two years ago. Mubadala is also partly funding the development of the Manchester Graphene Engineering & Innovation Centre, through its Masdar subsidiary, and is establishing joint graphene application research and fellowship programmes with the university. In the first phase, which has an estimated contract value of £75million, eight housing blocks will be built, with 1,122 rooms. Completion is expected by June 2019. Demolition and replacement of the existing Oak House buildings and The Limes will then follow on as the second phase, valued at £92m. The £65 million phase three should begin in April 2021; this will see the demolition of existing Owens Park buildings and building 896 cluster flat study bedrooms. The university already has a construction framework agreement with Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke and Sir Robert McAlpine to deliver most of its larger projects over the next eight years but the Fallowfield project is now deemed outside the scope of this. Further contract information is available via in-tendhost.co.uk/universityofmanchester