Will Kent County Council use funding wisely?

The Chancellor’s recent decision to give schools another £1.2 billion for capital investment was welcome news and came just days after Education Secretary Michael Gove announced an extra £500 million for local authorities to help oversubscribed and cramped schools.
While it’s unclear yet which areas will benefit from the £1.2 billion, which will be split between building more free schools and addressing school place shortages, we already know which of the 100 or so authorities will share in the £500 million funding.

It might seem like a lot of money, but it sounds a lot less when allocated to individual counties. Kent can expect just under £4.5 million from the pot – but how will the county council use that money? Gove expects it to be spent ‘efficiently’, benefiting small and medium-sized enterprises and stimulating local economic activity.

It can be spent wisely and make significant improvements in teaching facilities, or it can be blown on a single project. Some of our schools and classrooms are in a dreadful condition and should have been replaced years ago. Kent had an admirable policy of replacing all ‘temporary’ cabins but that seems to have been put on hold.

The recent James Report suggested that all school projects could be 25% cheaper but I believe that is a very modest target indeed. Kent seems to be reducing school costs simply by making the projects smaller, rather than by achieving better value.

Kent, like other councils, has a target cost of around £1,600 per m² for new school buildings, but they usually cost much more, around £2,200/m² when completed – and a significant proportion of that goes on fees. Teaching blocks can be built for half that cost, inclusive of all fees, and all to the latest standards for acoustics, access and durability. This is not for temporary cabins either, but high quality, permanent buildings.

At least they aren’t commissioning diva architects: a school at Brixton recently cost an incredible £3,300/m². Splendid and award-winning but the money could have gone three times further.

So what will Kent do? Spend it all on award-winning consultants and give one school a block of 10 classrooms or get best value for our schools with 30 or more classrooms built where they are needed?

Duncan Murray, Managing Director, Directline Structures, Ashford, Kent