Contracts for schools to make 140 jobs secure

Jan 15 2010 by Chris Knox, The Journal

THE North East offices of construction and mechanical and electricals company Shepherd Engineering Services (SES) has secured £20m of a £30m tranche of work, which it says will secure 140 jobs well into 2011.

Thanks to the biggest single Government investment to improve school buildings for over 50 years, the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme has ensured that construction work in the education sector has been fairly resilient throughout the recent recession.

SES has capitalised on its experience in the sector to land contracts to extend and carry out mechanical and electrical services (M&E) at schools in South Tyneside, Durham and Leeds, worth over £20m.

Its £2.6m contract in Durham will see it carry out M&E work as well as build a teaching block at a secondary school in Sedgefield, while similar work will be carried out at Harton Technology College over the next six months as part of a £4m contract.

As well as the North East projects, the firm is also involved with two £7m contracts to carry out work at schools in Leeds.

SES will be responsible for installing complex heating, air-conditioning, ventilation, sprinkler, fire alarm and CCTV systems to the schools, with the work to be completed between March and December 2010.

The firm said that the work would help it match last year’s sales in the North East of £20m as well as provide enough work for its 140-strong workforce over the next 15 months.

The North East office of SES, in North Shields, has not had to make redundancies despite the continued slump in the building sector because it has won a steady flow in the BSF campaign, as well as the health sectors. York-based SES has offices in Newcastle, Manchester, Sheffield, Coventry, London, Slough and Swindon.

Steve Joyce, operations director for SES’s northern division said: “The education sector is of great importance to us, so we’re delighted to have been awarded further work in this area.

“We strongly believe that the partnerships we have formed provide tangible solutions and deliver real benefits for all parties involved in the BSF Programme. “