Manchester wins local authority of the year award
25 June 2010
Manchester City Council has taken top spot in the Local Authority of the Year category at the 2010 British Council for School Environments (BCSE) awards.
The BCSE is the UK's leading charity in education, design and construction.
105 entries vied for top slots across 14 categories at the award ceremony last night at Delfina near to London Bridge.
This is the second time Manchester has been successful at the BCSE awards - last year Gorton Education Village scooped first prize in the Best Healthy Learning Environment category.
Judges commended Manchester for the range and breadth of initiatives undertaken by the council. They praised it for its focus on both student and community engagement, and commented that utilising lessons learnt for continuous improvement is a very good model.
They also noted that results are rising across the city and that the use of schools is increasing and is an indicator that the City Council's approach is working.
Manchester had a number of criteria to meet in the Local Authority of the Year category, including showing that it has developed an innovative and outcomes focused approach to the delivery of its capital programme and that it has involved a range of stakeholders in the design, build and post occupancy of buildings.
Councillor Sheila Newman, Manchester City Council Executive Member for Children's Services says: "This is a much deserved award as Manchester works extremely hard to ensure we have the very best learning environments for young people, staff and the community as a whole.
"We have a combined Building Schools for the Future and Academies programme with an unprecedented £500m capital investment to rebuild or refurbish all of the city's high schools. This is resulting in striking new buildings emerging across Manchester; vibrant and exciting places that stimulate and encourage pupils to learn and achieve."
Ty Goddard, chief executive of the British Council for School Environments, says: "This is the second time that Manchester City Council has won a BCSE award. This is a testimony to the hard work and commitment of local authority staff to ensure the people of Manchester have great school buildings. Worthy winners indeed!"
