£106m Investment In NI Schools

£106m is to be invested in a programme to enhance and refurbish schools across Northern Ireland.

Fifty local schools have been informed that their applications under the School Enhancement Programme (SEP) for capital investment have secured approval to proceed.

The investment will see fifty schools benefit from refurbishment or extension projects, each valued between £500,000 and £4m.

Announcing the news, Education Minister John O’Dowd said: "Last year I signalled my intention to establish a School Enhancement Programme. The purpose of this programme was to ensure that we provide the best possible education estate for our children and young people, within the budget available.

"The SEP is designed to enable the refurbishment or extension of existing schools and I am pleased to announce today that 50 schools have been informed that their applications have been successful and will be advanced to planning. This represents a potential investment in the estate of £106m over the next two to three years."

Examples of projects proceeding under the School Enhancement Programme include the provision of permanent build accommodation to replace mobiles, refurbishment of existing accommodation and the provision of sports facilities.

The Minister continued: "The successful projects are all consistent with the emerging area plans and the scale of the investment underlines my continuing commitment to improving the schools estate. It comes in addition to the major works projects worth £350m I have announced since last summer; in addition to the £31m I have invested in minor works since January; and in addition to the £47m I have earmarked for maintenance this year."

Alliance Education spokesperson Trevor Lunn MLA said: "This is great news that such a large amount of money will be spent on improving schools across Northern Ireland to deliver a better education for our children. I know that several of the schools who have been included in this announcement have been in desperate need of capital investment for several years.

"In a previous round of investment there wasn’t any funding for capital builds at integrated schools, so I am glad that several have been included in this announcement.

"This announcement will also be a major boost to our construction sector which has struggled since the economic downturn."

(IT/MH)