Yorkon lands £12m of education contracts

OFF-SITE construction specialist Yorkon has landed contracts in the education sector worth more than £12m to help meet the national shortage of school places.

A National Audit Office report has warned that 250,000 extra school places will be needed in England by 2014 to meet demand following the dramatic rise in birth rates.

Inner London is one of the most acute areas and to help resolve the issue, Yorkon, based in York and part of the Portakabin Group, has been working with Enfield Council and Barking & Dagenham Council using off-site construction to speed up the build process and respond to the urgent need for additional teaching facilities.

By moving as much of the building work off site as possible and into its York factory, Yorkon can reduce programme times by around 50% with less disruption to teaching.

The latest series of contracts awarded to Yorkon includes a new agreement with Enfield Council to expand capacity at seven schools in the first phase.

Working in partnership with Cornerstone Property Assets and contractors Kier Construction and Wilmott Dixon, £6m of orders have already been placed with Yorkon under this agreement.

Following completion of a new teaching block at Trinity School – a special school in Dagenham, Barking & Dagenham Council is also working with Yorkon to deliver a number of new projects. The largest is a £4.5m contract at City Farm School.    

Yorkon will also build a two-storey sixth form centre at Woodbrook Vale High School in Loughborough, which will free up classroom space elsewhere in the school and facilitate its expansion to include years 10 and 11. It is the fourth academy project Yorkon has been awarded in the Midlands.

Yorkon has a track record in the primary and secondary education sectors, having completed a variety of bespoke projects constructed off site, including self-contained teaching buildings, classroom extensions and complete schools.