Law firms guide national school building plan

LAW firms Walker Morris and Ward Hadaway have been appointed to offer advice on a £9.3bn investment programme in Britain’s schools.

The firms have joined the Legal Advisory Services Framework for Partnerships for Schools (PfS) – the Government body set up to deliver the capital investment programme for all secondary schools and Academies in England.

There are now 17 law firms on the framework – five more than the current framework of legal advisers. The framework helps local authorities to choose the right law firm to work with them as they deliver their Building Schools for the Future projects.

Walker Morris is based in Leeds while Ward Hadaway has offices in Newcastle and Leeds.

Set up in 2004 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), Building Schools for the Future (BSF) aims to rebuild or remodel every state secondary school in England.

It is the most ambitious scheme of its kind anywhere in the world. More than £9.3bn will be allocated to BSF projects during 2008 – 2011.

Firms on the Legal Advisory Services Framework will be able to offer comprehensive legal support for local authorities from pre-procurement through to operational local education partnership phase of the delivery of their BSF programmes.

Leeds-based Walker Morris has been appointed to the framework for two years with a possible extension of up to a further two years.

Julie Muscroft, partner from the public sector and project team at Walker Morris said: “The education is an important area of our business. This has been reflected not only by the people we recruit and the experience and skills that we have but also by the support from the rest of our organisation and the effort and emphasis we have placed on this sector. As such, we are delighted with the appointment and it reflects our commitment and experience of working in the sector.”

Tim Byles, chief executive of PfS said: “BSF is about much more than simply bricks and mortar, it is an opportunity for schools and local authorities to transform where and how students learn and teachers teach, and to integrate new learning technologies with state-of-the-art buildings and facilities.

“The advisers on the Legal Advisory Services Framework will be able to bring experience and ideas to complement the skills and knowledge within local authority BSF teams to help them plan for, and deliver, truly inspirational schools of the future,” he added.

Melanie Pears, partner and head of public sector at Ward Hadaway, said: “It has been a real privilege working with our partners in the education sector on these projects, which genuinely transform schools and the quality of education which they can offer to pupils.

“We look forward to working on more BSF schemes in the future and on continuing to help deliver better schools for the country’s children.”