PRESS RELEASE

Press Release

Embargoed until 9.30am on Wednesday March 24, 2010

Southampton City Council’s education initiative starts with Oasis Academy Mayfield

The transformation of Southampton’s secondary schools has moved one step closer with the selection of Carillion to design and build the first of the city’s Academies.

Carillion has been chosen to develop Oasis Academy Mayfield following a five-month design competition involving Southampton City Council, its Academies sponsor, Oasis Community Learning, and two national construction firms. Carillion won the tender with its simple and elegant proposal to transform the Academy.

Oasis Academy Mayfield is the first of at least 16 school investment projects being planned by the City Council, with the help of two pots of government funding: the National Academies Programme and Building Schools for the Future (BSF).

Councillor Paul Holmes, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with a company that has a global reputation for delivering excellence. Carillion’s bid was of outstanding quality and far surpassed our expectations. The Academy they have promise us will be iconic. It will also contribute to our sustainability vision, being carbon neutral and bringing new apprenticeships, jobs and work placements to the city.”

He added: “Our Academy and BSF programmes are a significant investment in Southampton’s schools and demonstrate our commitment to improving young people’s chances of achieving their potential. We look forward to working with Carillion, Oasis Community Learning and the wider community as we develop our plans.”

Aredi Pitsiaeli, Director of Strategic Development for Oasis Community Learning, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Southampton City Council and for being involved in the robust decision-making process.  We believe that the appointment of Carillion will provide a new state-of-the-art building that will greatly enhance the learning opportunities for our students, as well as for the wider Academy community. It was also invaluable to have some of our students involved in the consultation process – they had clear ideas on what was required and asked some insightful and searching questions of each developer.”

The announcement of the preferred bidder means the Academy could go into construction as early as October this year.

Carillion will also be invited to develop plans for Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill. Oasis Academy Mayfield and Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill are approximately worth in the region of a combined £30m in government funding.

Southampton’s two Oasis Community Learning Academies opened their doors in September 2008, replacing four community schools after a city-wide review of secondary education. The Southampton Academies are two of eleven schools sponsored by Oasis Community Learning around the UK.

In addition to the Academies projects, the City Council’s BSF programme – which will initially focus on five construction and three ICT only projects – is expected to go into procurement within a month.

The aims of both programmes are to raise standards and attendance, provide first-class learning facilities for Southampton’s communities, and complement their neighbourhoods.

The City Council hopes to sign the Oasis Academy Mayfield contract with Carillion before the end of September.

Ends

Notes to editors

1.            The Academies and Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programmes are the largest schools capital investment projects for over 50 years. The aim is to transform education by rebuilding or renewing England’s state secondary schools estate during the lifetime of the programmes.

2.            Oasis Community Learning was set up in 2004 as the governing body for the Oasis Academy programme. It aims to create and sustain a network of excellent learning communities where everyone can realise their full potential. Oasis Community Learning opened its first three Academies in September 2007 in Enfield, Immingham and Grimsby. Six more Academies opened in September 2008: Oasis Academy Bristol and Oasis Academy Brightstowe (both in Bristol), and Oasis Academy MediaCityUK (Salford) and Oasis Academy Coulsdon (Croydon), as well as Oasis Academy Mayfield and Oasis Academy Lord’s Hill in Southampton East and West respectively. As of September 2009 Oasis Community Learning now has a total of eleven Academies with the opening of Oasis Academy Hadley (Enfield) and Oasis Academy Shirley Park (Croydon). By September 2010 it will have twelve with the opening of Oasis Academy Oldham. Oasis Community Learning is part of the family of Oasis Charities.  For more information about Oasis Community Learning go to www.oasiscommunitylearning.org.

3.            For more information about BSF in Southampton go to www.southampton.gov.uk/bsf.

4.            For more information about this press release please contact Claire Hall, Stakeholder and Communications Manager, on 023 8091 7717 or at claire.hall@southampton.gov.uk.