Local schools given chance to win an £80,000 classroom!

One school will win a stylish and permanent 30-pupil classroom from Clearspace Buildings’ Evolve Programme

Local schools struggling for space are being given a chance to win an £80,000 classroom that’s big enough for 30 students.

The national competition is being run by the leading education magazine and website TES in conjunction with Clearspace Buildings, a UK developer, designer, manufacturer and installer of timber frame and modular timber structures.

Open to all UK primary and secondary schools in the area, the competition is being launched on Friday 21^st September 2012 and entry is via either www.tes.co.uk/building or www.clearspacebuildings.co.uk/evolve . Schools are simply required to explain in no more than 300 words why their school deserves a new learning space. The competition closes on Friday 20^th November 2012

Six shortlisted schools will be selected in December and, following a public vote, the winning school will be announced in January with construction of the stylish new building as early as Easter 2013.

As well as construction of the classroom Clearspace Buildings will undertake all necessary planning and building permissions, groundwork and construction and internal finishing, including flooring, lighting and power points.

“We’ve been covering education in Britain for more than 100 years and organised many competitions for teachers, but we’ve never been involved in giving away a school building before,” said Gerard Kelly, TES editor.

“Schools can be squeezed for space, especially if they are popular or in areas with rising birth rates. But creating new classrooms can be incredibly hard as schools budgets are tightening, and planning and construction are often expensive,” he added.

Explaining the rationale behind the high value giveaway, Scott Horner, Managing Director of Northumberland-based Clearspace Buildings, said: “We’re hugely proud of the Evolve Programme. TES is the most widely read and subscribed website and magazine for teachers and schools and therefore the ultimate vehicle to promote this unique and timely classroom giveaway.”

The population boom has already pushed many primary schools to ‘breaking point’ and forced town halls to draw up emergency plans to teach children in disused shops and warehouses. New figures from the Department for Education have shown the number of pupils in state schools is expected to rise to 7,950,000 by the end of the decade – 935,000 more than now.

This will mean that instead of one or two classes in each year group, there are plans for some schools to have up to six form groups in each year, which will leave many schools struggling for additional space.

Clearspace Buildings has created a ground-breaking range of beautiful Red Cedar Wood clad, permanent, quick to construct and cost-effective specifically targeted at schools. All buildings are specifically designed to suit a school’s needs and are multi-functional and adaptable.

Known as the Evolve Programme, the buildings are inspirational learning spaces designed to challenge traditional methods of creating additional classroom space - usually with grey, lifeless temporary buildings.

Unlike the traditional blue and grey temporary buildings, Clearspace Buildings’ FSC-certified timber-framed structures are stylishly designed with Western Red Cedar cladding and contemporary high performance powder-coated aluminium frame glazing. Inside, the buildings are light and airy with solid oak floors to create stimulating learning environments.

Bespoke designed and ranging in size from 50m² - 1500m², Clearspace Buildings’ structures are manufactured and designed in the UK and can be sited virtually anywhere and constructed on or off site where space is of a premium.

To cope with the accommodation demands for increased pupil numberstThe Department for Education is relaxing building regulations so that new schools can occupy a smaller space - secondary schools by 15% and primary schools by 5%.

To enter the competition or learn more about Clearspace Buildings’ Evolve Programme visit www.clearspacebuildings.co.uk/evolve