FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Hundreds of Million of Pounds Are To Be Spent on Disability Access Products And Services In The Build Schools For The Future Program

March 8, 2007

Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

Gordon Brown has announced a massive £36 billion investment in new and renovated schools over the next 4 years to create the “most educated nation in the world”. This investment includes the renovation or new building of 12,000 schools, including 50% of primary schools, 90% of secondary schools and 100 colleges. These developments will be done in three waves across the country over the next 4 years.

This means massive opportunities for disability and access product companies on several different levels. If the project is a renovation, then access auditors will be brought in to assess the building from top to bottom. If it is a new build, disabled access consultants will work with architects. Once the existing school is demolished or closed for renovation, temporary facilities need to be made accessible.

Next, the public and non-profit organizations are consulted on local access issues. This may mean the purchase of automatic door systems, DDA compliant signage, reserving space for the parking and recharging of mobility scooters or installing systems for hearing or sight impaired students. There are then individual by individual issues like how to support diabetics that need to inject insulin and the disposal of their used needles, modifications for children with cancer or the ergonomic design of work spaces for staff with back or posture issues.

The physical building issues are followed by educational issues. This includes specialist educational software for English as a second language, dyslexia software and modified computer systems for individual disabilities.

On top of this physical investment, each head teacher will have their discretionary funds increased by 28-33% in the 2007-2008 financial year. This will give a typical primary school £50,000 and a typical secondary school £200,000 to spend as they see fit.

Buyers Guide has been helping private companies get access to government contracts since 1996. With over 5,000 company listings on www.buyersguide.co.uk of specific products and services targeting public sector work, Buyers Guide is an easy solution for helping government buyers find qualified suppliers.

Companies listed on Buyers Guide range from multinationals to sole traders, but all have the goal of working on public sector contracts. These include working with schools, colleges, universities, local councils, ministry of defence, NHS, housing authorities, and government funded non-profit agencies.

The advantage that buyers guide offers is that the company “profile” on the www.buyersguide.co.uk website is written to specifically answer the pre-qualification questions from public sector buyers. This usually includes information like; previous work with other government bodies, years in business, industry qualifications or certifications like ISO 9002, testimonials from clients, government awards like investors in people, confirmation of equal opportunity employer status and specific contact details.

The Buyers Guide “profile” system allows government procurement specialists to quickly find companies that have government experience, the pre-qualification standards and a willingness to work with the public sector in one place saving the government time, effort and ultimately money.

Contact:

Buyers Guide
0191 260 5388
0191 221 2287
www.buyersguide.co.uk

Company History

Buyers Guide, based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, was established in 1996 and is the leading online directory of UK companies that are targeting the £600 billion in public spending each year. To date, there are over 5,000 company listings in 1,200 categories on the www.buyersguide.co.uk website.