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Schools move lands £400m blow on HVAC industry

The slashing of the Building Schools for the Future programme will land a £400 million blow on the heating and ventilation sector.

Education secretary Michael Gove last week abandoned the £55 billion BSF scheme, scrapping hundreds of projects at advanced stages of procurement.

A total of 715 schools will no longer be rebuilt or refurbished, of which nearly 180 were new-build, 319 remodelled or refurbished, 63 ICT-only and 153 unconfirmed.

Analysis by H&V News suggests that the move could see building services specialists lose out on up to £400m a year. Figures from the Construction Products Association suggest that just over £2bn is spent on construction on the programme annually through capital spending and PFI credits, while the HVCA suggested up to 20 per cent of the total cost of schools was HVAC-related.

Mr Gove (pictured) was scathing in his criticism: “Throughout [BSF’s] life it has been characterised by massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy.”

Bidding through the £4bn academies ‘super-framework’ has also been put on hold while a review takes place.

Roderick Pettigrew, deputy chief executive of the HVCA, said: “A lot of our members are involved in providing heat and ventilation to schools,” he said. “[BSF] bought in a significant amount of work.”

The Homes and Communities Agency issued details of housing schemes under review, after discovering it would receive £390m from the government against a potential budget shortfall of £610m.
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Meanwhile, shortlisted contractors expect the £1.8bn PFI prisons framework to build five large jails will also be scrapped.
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