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£40 MILLION SCHOOL BEATS £80 MILLION HOLLAND PARK SCHOOL FOR RIBA PRIZE
Burntwood, a South London school costing just £40 million to build has won the much vaunted RIBA Stirling prize for the creation of a first class educational environment.
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| Understated Elegance |
So why no prize for Holland Park School/Academy;
after all, taxpayers splurged over £80 million on it?
Clearly, the huge overspend delivered nothing in real value terms and the appraisal committee bore that in mind in rejecting it for the prize.
Michael Gove had always said that no school needs cost more than £40 million and the prize to Burntwood proves his point.
You can see how successful the school is HERE
There should be red faces all around at RBK&C.....
The Dame is wrong. Holland Park School cost £100 million.
ReplyDeleteCockell and his poodles were on a spending spree. They needed to blow as much as they could possibly manage in order to make a big PR bang for the Cockell peerage project. It is his Statue of Liberty in the Park.
It is called abuse of power
No sooner had the new school opened than they had to close the new swimming pool. Because it leaked. From the outside.
DeleteYou could not make it up.
Profligate spending. No cost control. No value for money. Public money wasted
ReplyDeleteWhere is the value proposition for Holland Park School?
Can this Council be trusted to collect and spend business rates??
NO,NO, NO.
Cabinet Member Cllr Elizabeth Campbell is on record as saying that "Holland Park School cost nothing"
DeleteCllr Campbell's husband has already taken away her cheque book and credit cards. It is incredible that Cllr Paget-Brown allows this woman to participate in policy making for the Royal Borough.
DeleteCllr Elizabeth Campbell is a confused person.
DeleteCllr Campbell is accustomed to buying furniture from Peter Jones with one years interest free credit. The cretin believes that when the furniture comes through her front door "it costs nothing"
DeleteThe spending on this project was totally out of control. Hubris took over in the Cabinet and the rot spread to the headmaster. £250k was blown on a sculpture of modern art to celebrate the opening and the headmaster commissioned "designer chairs", £270 each, for the precious children to park their bottoms on.
ReplyDeleteHow can this lot be trusted with public money?
Anonymous is referring to the Anthony Gormley sculpture, commissioned at huge expense to celebrate the opening of the new school. A gesture to match the generosity of the great Victorian philanthropists or the scale of Medici patronage.
DeleteBut spending hard earned tax payers money on this type of gesture is wrong. Plain WRONG
If it is in the bank, spend it!
ReplyDeleteThis Council over taxes and over spends. Hornton Street maintains a balance of £200 million a year from over taxing and then lets loose a bunch of councillors and officers with not enough to do and too much money to spend.
Result?
£100 million school. £10 million subsidy on a civic opera (the only civic opera in the country and two world class operas next door for residents to enjoy). £1m a year on two Mayors, a Bentley and a Jag. Search parties for unidentified flying objects in Ladbroke Grove. And so it goes on.
Bonkers
Don't forget £30 million to tart up Exhibition Road with pink granite from China
DeleteThe list is infinite. Does anyone remember Chelsea Care? The flagship business venture dreamed up by Officers, councillors and approved by the Cabinet.
DeleteIt went bust. Of course. £1 million down the toilet.
Burntwood cannot possibly be compared with the Royal Borough. Would you consider buying a house there?
ReplyDeleteOf course not. Get real.
But would my kids get better education at Burntwood? Perhaps yes,,,, and that is what matters - not whether I have a swimming pool in the basement or a cinema.
Deletewe do not have to go on about the Holland Park school.... Just have a look at the KAA.... the so called 'academy'. Ghastly to look at and perhaps even worse inside. Very much like an extension to Westfield... even same colours.....
ReplyDeleteAt one end of the spectrum we have a spendthrift, hubris driven, out of control Council. At the other end of the spectrum we have a corrupt planning system in Hornton Street that is on the take from developers. This is the perception of informed observers.
ReplyDeleteCllr Paget-Brown needs to clean up the act of his organisation and implement a communications programme that addresses the issues above. He needs to raise his game and stop wasting time on trivia press releases stating that Marlborough School has to be knocked down because there is no wheel chair access. How much more ridiculous can leadership get?
When PB makes stupid press statements like the one above, it is clear evidence that the tail is wagging the dog. PB is increasingly demonstrating that he is a weak and ineffectual Leader. The Tories Corbyn.
Delete