The government’s massive school building programme remains one of the brighter prospects for timber and joinery product supply in 2009, with an announcement of new local authorities to join the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme to be made in the coming months.
Partnership For Schools (PFS), the BSF delivery organisation, said 80 local authorities were currently taking part in the programme in 15 waves, but a further 70 were yet to come on board.
It said local authorities in waves 7-15 were asked to submit revised expressions of interest by the end of last November. The government and PFS are currently looking at these, with the hope that projects can be accelerated – including some which had not been due to start for another couple of years. “More local authorities will be able to start on BSF projects sooner than expected,” it said.
Doubts remain about the private finance initative funding of projects in the current credit gridlock, but PFS said recent £300m funding from the European Investment Bank and early works agreements meant the BSF was not totally reliant on private finance.
• Finnforest is to exhibit its engineered timber solutions at the Building Schools Exhibition & Conference at Manchester Central on Feburary 11-12. Finnforest building solutions director Kevin Riley said there was a real opportunity to benefit from work on offer in the BSF programme.
