Westmorland and Furness Council is delivering greater value for money from its annual £5 million school maintenance programme, by combining similar projects across multiple schools into single contracts.
The approach is already proving successful, with the recent completion of drainage improvement works at five schools across the area. Sir John Barrow Primary School, Flookburgh C of E Primary School, Allithwaite C of E Primary School, Heron Hill Primary School and Pennington CofE School have all benefitted from drainage upgrades, delivered under the same contract.
By packaging the drainage contracts together, the Council was able to achieve economies of scale, reducing mobilisation and set up costs while improving efficiency and consistency across all sites. The programme also enabled high quality improvements to be delivered with minimal disruption to pupils, staff and school communities.
The initiative forms part of the Council's ongoing commitment to securing the best possible value from its school maintenance budget while ensuring school buildings remain safe, functional and fit for learning.
The success of the drainage programme has highlighted the benefits of grouping similar workstreams together and the Council is now exploring opportunities to apply the same model to future drainage schemes and other maintenance projects across its school estate.
Councillor Andrew Jarvis, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance at Westmorland and Furness Council, said:
"We have a responsibility to ensure every pound of public money is spent as effectively as possible. By bringing similar projects together into larger contracts, we can reduce costs, improve efficiency and achieve better value from our school maintenance budget."
"The drainage improvement works delivered across these five schools demonstrate how this approach can achieve high quality results, while minimising disruption for pupils and staff. At a time when our Council has lost significant funding, finding smarter ways to deliver essential maintenance helps us protect investment in our schools and maximise the benefit for local communities."
The Council will continue to identify opportunities to use combined contracts where appropriate, helping to deliver maintenance projects more efficiently while maintaining high standards across its education estate.