Catalyst Lend Lease opens seven new Lancashire schools

4 September 2008 10:00 Comments (0)

Over 2,000 children and young people in Burnley, Nelson, and Padiham will be starting their new term in seven brand new schools next Monday, 8 September.

Built on three sites, at Burnley Campus, Shuttleworth College, and Pendle Vale College and Pendle Vale Community High School and College, the schools are the first phase of the £250m Building Schools for the Future programme led by Lancashire County Council and Catalyst Lend Lease.

Costing £31m to build and equip, Burnley Campus, on Barden Lane, is the biggest of three sites and contains the Thomas Whitham Sixth Form, Barden Primary School, Holly Grove special school, Reedley Hallows Nursery School and Children's Centre, a public library and the Burnley and Pendle Faith Centre, together with all-weather sports pitches, fitness centre, a climbing wall, sports hall and hydrotherapy pool.

The £29m Pendle Vale College and Pendle Community High School and College site in Nelson brings together two schools. The sloping site has been used to create a new local landmark with a building that rises in tiers to four storeys and is capped by a sweeping roofline. Sports pitches and indoor sports resources are all built to Sport England standards to support the school's aims to achieve specialist sports college status.

Shuttleworth College, on Burnley Road in Padiham, cost £20m and its facilities include a dance studio, sports hall, fitness room, tennis courts, and all weather sports pitches.

The local education partnership specially formed to manage these news schools is led by Lancashire County Council and Catalyst Lend Lease with Government funding and input from Partnerships for Schools. Other private sector members of the LEP are the ICT service provider Redstone Communications and the architect Capita Symonds.

Private sector funding to co-finance the schools was provided by Bank of Scotland and the schools were built by Bovis Lend Lease. Vita Lend Lease will be responsible for upkeep, maintenance and security for the next 25 years.