The Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced its allocation of Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for 2018-2019 and several of Lea Hough’s clients have won their bids for building repair and improvement projects, meaning millions of pounds of investment in local academy schools.
The CIF is an annual bidding round for academy trusts and sixth form colleges under which schools can apply for funding to improve buildings and other facilities. Every year, Lea Hough work with academies across the North West to submit bids for repair and improvement works. Projects for which bids prepared by Lea Hough’s specialist team this year included whole block refurbishments, safeguarding schemes, fire alarm replacements, boiler and heating upgrades, improvements to roofing and window and door replacement projects – a large number of which were approved.
Michael Harrison, who heads the Schools and Academies team at Lea Hough, commented:
“This is excellent news for our academy clients, many of whom will be able to begin work on their projects in the next few months.
“As this is something we have been working with academies on for a number of years now, our process is tried and tested and we’re delighted that our pass rate is double the national average for bid applications.
“The CIF represents a significant opportunity for academies and schools to receive government funding for projects they may otherwise struggle to afford to undertake. The fact that we have been able to help win more bids and more funding than ever before is excellent news for the academies involved – many of which are in and around Lancashire”.
In order to gain approval this round, the CIF has revealed that a mark of over 76% was required.
The DfE received requests for more than £1.3 billion for over 3800 projects to this year’s round. Of these, 1556 projects across 1299 academies and sixth-form colleges were approved, with a total of £514 million of funds allocated nationwide.
The news means a busy summer ahead for the Lea Hough team, who will project manage the building improvement and repair works for which bids were successful.
For more information on Lea Hough’s services for schools and academies, including preparation of bids for CIF funding, please contact us here.
