Leading Scottish construction company, City Building, has carried out £40 million of refurbishment and rebuilding projects across 106 Glasgow schools, enabling the company to create more jobs and apprenticeships as well as boost the local economy.
The multi-million pound works undertaken by the construction firm on behalf of Glasgow City Council include £20 million expenditure through its supply chain using local Glasgow contractors who pay the Glasgow Living Wage and employ apprentices.
As a result of this work City Building has been able to employ 140 time-out apprentices from trades including electrical, joinery, plumbing and painting and decorating, run post-apprentice training for 49 newly qualified tradespeople in order to build their skills and confidence and promote 17 of its employees from craft roles to management positions.
One of the main benefits of the education programme has been the opening of the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries (RSBi) PVCu window factory at Queenslie, which has so far secured £10 million of new window contracts. The new facility has allowed the company to create 30 permanent jobs €“some of the roles were given to long-term unemployed ex-servicemen – across manufacturing, surveying and installation. This new facility also marks a great step forward in the development of RSBi€™s business as the windows factory will now have the capability to bid for contracts in Europe as well.
Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “”This administration has pledged to rebuild or refurbish every primary in the city, as well as every remaining early years and additional support for learning (ASL) school, in a five-year, £250 million investment programme.
“”This will benefit children and schools across Glasgow and provide a significant boost to the local economy. Education and jobs are both top priorities of this council and we will deliver on them.€
Councillor Paul Carey, Chair of City Building, said: €œThe completion of Phase one of the education works has been a great success not just for City Building but for local communities throughout Glasgow who have benefited from the increased job prospects and improved school infrastructure it has provided.
€œWe look forward to being able to continue to work on projects that will improve the city€™s educational establishments and will allow us in turn to develop young apprentices in Glasgow.€
The various projects carried out by City Building have been tailored to suit the individual needs of the school covering everything from the installation of fire alarms, re-roofing, replacement windows, external wall fabric upgrades and drainage clearance and improvements to repairs to chimneys and masonry, fixing new guttering and fascia, playground refurbishment and external painting.
Future phases of the programme will involve changing to energy efficient and LED lighting in some schools. Nineteen schools have been identified that will benefit from changing boilers and associated heating plant and twenty four schools have been identified for future roof insulation.
City Building have worked with planning officers and Historic Scotland on schools with listed building status such as Notre Dame Primary School in Glasgow€™s west end, to ensure refurbishment measures are appropriate for the specific needs of these buildings and environmental issues have been appropriately addressed. New schools, new build extensions and high efficiency temporary classrooms are also part of the overall package of works being undertaken.
