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REFURBISHMENT FOR
ACADEMY TRUSTS

Kestrel-SEN-School

This page covers what we do differently for trusts: secondary school sites, projects across several schools, condition-funded work, and how we report back to your estates team and board.

Secondary schools

Secondary sites are bigger, busier and more complicated than primaries. More pupils move between more buildings every hour, there are science labs, DT workshops and sports halls to work around, and GCSE and A-level exams fill much of May and June.

We plan secondary refurbishments around three things:

  • Movement. Where pupils go between lessons, and how we keep our routes and theirs apart at changeover.
  • Specialist rooms. Labs and workshops have gas, extraction and services that need isolating and recommissioning properly, and signing off before teaching restarts.
  • Exams. We take the exam timetable at the start and build it into the programme. See refurbishing schools that stay open for how we handle phasing, safeguarding and exams on live sites.
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Working across several schools

When a trust wants similar work done at more than one school, you get one Eden project manager across the programme, one specification applied consistently, and one monthly report covering every site. Each school has its own site manager and its own safeguarding arrangements agreed with that school’s lead.

That makes it simpler for your estates team, and it means a decision made at one school (a door spec, a ceiling grid, a lighting layout) carries across to the rest without being re-argued.

Condition-funded projects

Much trust refurbishment is paid for through the Condition Improvement Fund or, for larger trusts, the School Condition Allocation. Both come with deadlines, and CIF bids need realistic costs and programmes behind them.

We can help before the money is confirmed:

  • Budget costs and outline programmes for bids, based on a site visit
  • Advice on what can realistically be done in a summer holiday and what needs phasing over term time
  • Early ordering plans for long-lead items, so a late funding decision doesn’t cost you the holiday

Once funding is confirmed, we build the programme back from the spend deadline and the first day of term, and tell you early if either is at risk.

Procurement

Trusts need to show value for money and fair competition. We price the tender documents in the format you issue, raise questions before we price rather than after award, and provide the references and pre-qualification information your process asks for. Everything most selection questionnaires need is on our tender and pre-qualification information page.

Reporting to the trust

Every month your estates lead or CFO receives a short report covering progress against programme, cost (including variations and anticipated final account), health and safety, and risks. It’s written so it can go straight into an estates committee or board pack. For the cost side in detail, see cost reporting and valuations.

Recent education work

  • Howell’s School, Cardiff (GDST): 25 months of external works to a Grade II* listed school that stayed fully operational. Case study

  • Kestrel House School, Crouch Hill: SEN school refurbishment. Case study
  • Riseley SEN School, Basingstoke: office-to-school conversion. Case study
  • Tower School, Epping: Grade II listed conversion for an autism school. Case study

Questions to ask any contractor

  1. Which academy trusts have you worked for, and can we speak to their estates lead?
  2. How would you run similar works at three of our schools at once?
  3. Can you help us with costs and a programme for a CIF bid?
  4. What will your monthly report to the trust include?
  5. What happens if funding is confirmed late?
Do you work with multi-academy trusts?

Yes. We refurbish schools for academy trusts and multi-academy trusts, including projects run across several schools at once with one project manager, one specification and one monthly report.
Can you help with a Condition Improvement Fund bid?

Yes. We provide budget costs and outline programmes based on a site visit, and advise on what can realistically be done in a summer holiday.
Can you work on several schools at the same time?

Yes. Each school gets its own site manager and safeguarding arrangements, with one Eden project manager across the programme.
What size of school project do you take on?

Refurbishments from £100,000 to £4 million, including classrooms, science labs, toilets, corridors, external fabric and conversions to school use.
How do you report to the trust?

Monthly, covering programme, cost, health and safety and risks, in a format that can go straight into an estates committee or board pack.
What happens if our funding is confirmed late?

We plan for it. We agree an early ordering plan for long-lead items and a fallback phasing plan, so a late decision doesn’t automatically lose you the holiday.