Firms in the sector report construction work is drying up as government slackens the pace of delivery

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Fears are growing among contractors and consultants that school building will slow down even further this year after it fell 拢1bn, according to government accounts.

As schools reopened this week after the holidays, firms told 黑洞社区 work is beginning to dry up, prompting Tim Byles, former boss of the government鈥檚 school-building quango, to say: 鈥淏oth public and private sector players have expressed concerns to me about the pace of delivery of new schools.鈥�

Government spending on school building fell by 拢1bn last year to just 拢4bn, well below the 拢4.6bn a year implied by a 拢23bn allocation in 2015 to pay for school building and refurbishment up to 2021.

Contractors and consultants report progress has been slow on both the free schools building programme and the second phase of the Priority School 黑洞社区 Programme (PSBP2), which is designed to repair and replace those in the worst state.

Philip Watson, director at architect HLM, said: 鈥淥ur experience is that investment is not flowing as predicted. Every time a new framework is set up, it takes six months longer than expected, then takes six months to bed down, and then the work doesn鈥檛 come at the anticipated rate.鈥�

Steve Beechey, managing director of government affairs at contractor Wates, added: 鈥淭he priority schools work is coming through at a lower level than the market is used to. In the PSBP, the industry was doing hundreds of schools a year sometimes, but PSBP2 is more of a slow burn. There鈥檚 a lull.鈥�

But a source at the Department for Education (DfE) said the drop in capital spend last year was due to the winding-down of the first phase of the PSBP, which has now built 237 of the promised 260 schools.

The source said any variation reflected the natural ebb and flow of programme spend. 鈥淚f you look across spending reviews,鈥� he added, 鈥渨e got 拢17bn in the last one and 拢23bn in this one. In the bigger picture, spending is up.鈥�

But Byles said different public sector bodies needed to work better in order to speed up school building work. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a massive need for more co-ordinated investment.鈥�

A DfE spokesperson said it remained committed to the 拢23bn investment between 2016 and 2021: 鈥淭he funding is delivering thousands of new school places, rebuilding and replacing buildings in the worst condition, and delivering thousands of projects across the school estate.鈥�

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