Nottinghamshire County Council is expected to approve almost £7.6 million worth of essential building work to improve the county’s maintained schools during 2025/26.
The report, which will be presented to Cabinet on 6 November 2025, allows the latest phase of the Schools Building Improvement Programme (SBIP) to move into construction. The programme is funded through the Department for Education’s annual Schools Condition Allocation and is used to keep school buildings safe, compliant and fit for purpose.
The total estimated outturn cost for the new programme is £7.58 million — £6.82 million for building works and £757,655 for professional and design services provided through Arc Partnership, the council’s joint-venture property company. The projects, spread across Nottinghamshire, will focus on urgent health-and-safety and maintenance issues that, if left unresolved, could force temporary school closures.
As in previous years, the authority first drew up a long list of potential schemes based on condition surveys and building-safety risk assessments. Within the constraints of available funding, the most pressing projects have been prioritised for 2025/26, with others rolled forward for consideration in 2026/27.
The Cabinet report explains that the 2025/26 Schools Condition Allocation confirmed by the DfE is £7.9 million. In line with earlier years, £300,000 of that sum is “top-sliced” to support the council’s Schools Access Initiative, which funds adaptations for pupils with additional needs. The remaining £7.6 million will pay for the new works and associated professional fees.
Some of the projects extend work already approved in earlier programmes, after design-stage investigations revealed extra remedial work was required. Others are entirely new schemes identified through ongoing condition assessments.
The report notes that the work will be procured through Arc Partnership’s General Building Frameworks, which are competitively tendered. A mini-competition before construction starts is designed to ensure best value for money.
Environmental performance is also a key factor. The council says every scheme in the SBIP now considers improvements such as thermal efficiency, modern heating systems, sustainable drainage and reduced construction waste. Arc Partnership operates a “zero waste to landfill” approach, recycling or re-using all construction materials wherever possible.
