New primary school on BSCS site already over budget by £750k

Councillors have been told that the project to construct a new primary phase building on the Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) site is over-budget by an estimated £750k, before the first brick has even been laid.

A paper presented to a meeting of South Gloucestershire Council’s Children and Young people Committee on 18th June reported that “further scheme development has confirmed that the project cannot be delivered within the £3m budget” due to issues that have recently emerged. These are said to include:

• Additional enabling works including relocation of all cycle parking
• The requirement for a full catering kitchen rather than just a servery (to facilitate additional school meals)
• Additional external works, such as ball stop fencing and landscaping
• Sport England requirements, as the new primary school displaces existing sports facilities
• Soil investigation tests that have identified significant ground contamination

Although the new primary age facility will be operated by the Olympus Academy Trust rather than South Gloucestershire Council, The Journal understands that financial liabilities relating to the construction programme lie with the council rather than the trust.

Meanwhile, a recent article in the Bristol Post suggesting that the new primary phase building could be double the currently proposed size has been dismissed as unrealistic by BSCS head Dave Baker. He says the directors of the trust made it very clear that they would not be persuaded about changing to two-form entry once the planning application had been submitted.

A related planning application for a car parking area and cycle storage that currently occupy the site of the proposed primary phase building to be relocated to the other side of the existing secondary school building has now been approved. This work is expected to commence on 12th July and be completed in time for the new term in September.

Mr Baker told The Journal:

“Our next challenge this autumn will be how to market a primary phase that is not yet built and has no staff or pupils, but we have been here before ten years ago before BSCS opened, so watch this space…”

It is hoped that the new primary facility will be ready to accept its first intake of Reception age children in September 2015.

This article originally appeared in the July 2014 edition of the Bradley Stoke Journal news magazine, delivered FREE, EVERY MONTH, to 9,450 homes in Bradley Stoke, Little Stoke and Stoke Lodge. Phone 01454 300 400 to enquire about advertising or leaflet insertion.