Eddisons secures £20m funding for school buildings improvements

Property consultant Eddisons has secured £20m of Government funding to improve buildings at schools across the UK, including more than £10m for Yorkshire schools.

The funding was announced in the Government’s latest round of the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), which, despite growing concern about the state of schools, saw the lowest number of school building work requests approved since the funding system began in 2015.

The latest round of funding secured by Eddisons for schools in Yorkshire includes £1.75m for Polaris Multi Academy Trust, which runs five schools across West Yorkshire, with £1m allocated for a new roof at the trust’s Raistrick High School.

Ian Harrington, head of Eddisons specialist education team and regional managing partner for the North of England, said: “We are proud of the results we’ve achieved once again for our education clients, however this year’s funding announcement underlines the woeful lack of financial provision for school improvements, with less than a third of total bids approved.”

In Yorkshire, 145 (64%) of the total of 225 bids for school buildings improvements and repairs that were submitted were turned down by the Government for CIF funding. Nationally, only 866 of more than 3,000 bids were successful, down from 1,058 approved bids the previous year.

Mr Harrington added: “Eddisons will continue to work with those schools and academies whose bids for much-needed buildings improvements were unsuccessful this time, offering guidance on future bids, as well as advising on other current funding opportunities.

“The CIF bidding procedure is highly complex and our education team have built up huge knowledge and experience to help deliver successful bids and projects that make a real difference to schools, students and teachers.

“Unfortunately the process of submitting a successful CIF bid becomes more competitive each year and we are really pleased to have maintained our position as a key adviser to the education sector, with an excellent success rate.”

The successful school improvement projects will all get underway shortly and will be project managed by Eddisons.