STAFF at the Newcastle office of international building consultancy Aecom have got their new year off to a strong start with the help a number of lucrative education projects.

The multi-national company has been appointed to oversee a number of schemes across the region and further south, all of which will be handled out of its offices at Trinity Gardens on Newcastle’s Quayside where it employs 150 staff.

The team is currently working as part of Kier Northwern’s team on the new Northumberland Church of England Academy in Ashington, which is valued at £46m and is due to be completed in the summer. The Newcastle team is providing a wide range of services at the site, including building services engineering, civil and structural engineering, flood risk assessments and ecology advice.

Other contracts being handled by the office include the Grimsby Institute, due to be completed this September, as well as the Priory Academies project, which will see five academies built in Lincolnshire.

The Priory Academies scheme, which began in July last year, consists of Witham Academy, City of Lincoln Academy and Lincoln School of Science and Technology, all of which are due for completion in July, as well as Skegness Academy, which will start on site in May this year, and St George’s Academy, due to start on site in February with completion in September 2012. Last year saw Aecom, which has it worldwide headquarters in the US, help complete Bulwell Academy in Nottingham on behalf of Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, which is valued at £20m and is a 12,000sq m building split into eight blocks with a central energy centre.

The company’s regional director, Keith Armstrong, said: “In what continues to be a challenging market for anyone working in the construction sector, we are of course extremely pleased to have these projects under our belt.

“However, with the planned and already implemented cuts, it is vital that education projects are not only completed on time and to budget, but more than meet the needs of the next generation of students.

“To that end, those involved in the procurement process must have complete confidence that the team they appoint is up to the job.

“I believe Aecom’s ongoing commitment to investment in the latest technology and development of its people is reflected in the number of projects we are currently handling.”

The North East team has also landed work on a £10.3m regeneration scheme on the banks of the River Tyne.

The project team will deliver a 43,000sq ft, four-storey office block at Harton Stathes in South Shields that will eventually accommodate British Telecom.

The building is part of a scheme to transform the reclaimed land on the river bank into a commercial area and will become the flagship development for a wider regeneration project.