Published
By Ashley Cox
Following the announcement that schools, colleges and universities in Wales will receive £40.5m in additional maintenance funding, Crescent Purchasing Consortium would like to remind member institutions of our relevant procurement resources.
Earmarked for essential capital repairs and maintenance, the £40.5m injection was confirmed by the Welsh Government in early March, with Finance Secretary and former First Minister, Mark Drakeford, commenting how this support "will provide a positive impact to schools, colleges and higher education settings across Wales".
Adding to the £20m already announced in January for Wales' schools and colleges, this new further funding pot will see £15m allocated to Wales' local authorities for school maintenance projects, with the remaining £25.5m set to be split between Welsh colleges and universities, enabling them to invest in important maintenance and transformation works.
Examples of work Welsh Government funding can help facilitate include roof replacements, electrical upgrades, new windows and heating/ventilation improvements, with institutions able to enhance energy efficiencies and complete key refurbishments.
Wales Cabinet Secretary for Education, Lynne Neagle, said: "In the last ten years we have invested £3.6bn in over 330 projects to build and improve school and college buildings in every local authority. This funding has helped to provide modern, fit for purpose buildings, designed to educate the next generation and invested in our local communities.
"The additional funding announced will help support local authorities across Wales to invest once again in our school estate".
Comparable support for English institutions, via the England-only Condition Improvement Fund, was outlined in November.
CPC has a selection of relevant purchasing frameworks/Dynamic Purchasing Systems our Wales-based members can employ to achieve successful and compliant results out of any new funding. These include our Estates and Facilities Professional Services DPS (which is recommended to schools and academies, by the Department for Education), plus frameworks covering provision of Mechanical & Electrical Maintenance Services, Security Systems and Fire Safety Equipment (read more on the latter here).
We were pleased to also introduce a new Minor Works DPS in 2025, with lot options for general building works, electrical works, external works, plumbing/drain repair, sustainability/energy efficiency, specialist works, civil engineering works and demolition. As with frameworks, our 10,000+ members are able to access our Dynamic Purchasing Systems, free of charge.
Crescent Consultancy can also provide additional support, if you find the process difficult, or excessively time-consuming. Professional experts from our team are able to run a managed procurement service, among a range of consultancy offers, while our free Regional Procurement Advisor service can provide CPC members with free, ad hoc procurement advice. 🤝
Please note that while CPC is primarily targeted at supporting education institutions directly, local authorities can make use of various Crescent Purchasing Consortium frameworks through our subsidiary, Crescent Services, which opens up a number of CPC frameworks (and more) to the wider public sector. Read on for more on Crescent Services and the sectors it can assist...
For more on how CPC can support institutions in Wales and beyond, contact our helpdesk or call us on 08000 662 188. 📲