Bidding wars begin for £21m project to rebuild Putteridge High School

The Department for Education (DfE) has awarded £21million to rebuild the school, and invited six national construction companies to attend a bidders’ day on Tuesday, November 27.

The funding will be used to create all new general and specialist teaching areas and a new sports block.

Headteacher David Graham said: “We are thrilled that the DfE has awarded significant funding to the school. We are passionate about providing the best teaching and learning experiences for our staff and students.

“The new state of the art facilities will help us further improve the high-quality education experience we offer our community.

“The school has been on a journey of transformation over the last few years, and with the support of the Trust and our community we are making great progress; these new buildings are the next step in our plans to provide the best education possible for our local area.”

Putteridge High School’s building works are due to start in September 2019 and hope to be completed by early 2022. The successful building contractor is expected to be announced in March 2019.

The scheme is one of 278 school projects which have successfully secured funding from the DfE. The funding is part of a national programme to invest £2billion into new and refurbished school buildings between 2015 and 2021.

Putteridge High School joined the Chiltern Learning Trust last year. Its chief executive, Adrian Rogers, said: “I am so pleased for Putteridge as this will give the school the modern facilities it deserves and benefit the community. It follows the opening of the new Chiltern Academy which will move into its brand new buildings next year. This is a very exciting time for the Luton community, with massive investments being placed into the education of students and facilities in the area.”