Glasgow City Council has approved the biggest secondary schools investment programme in the UK. Every one of the city's 29 secondary schools will either be rebuilt or completely upgraded and refurbished as part of a massive three-year, £220 million investment project under a government public private partnership (PPP) initiative.

In addition to providing a better education environment, Project 2002 (the name marks the initiative's main completion date), aims to give Glasgow's 30,000 secondary pupils access to the latest computer and Internet technology. Under the scheme, 11 new secondary schools will be constructed, mostly on ground adjacent to existing schools, eight secondary schools will have significant extensions and undergo total refurbishment, and nine secondary schools will be completely upgraded and refurbished.

City councillors have approved the overall project, enabling officials to complete discussions and finalise a 29-year contract with 3ED - a consortium comprising the Miller Group, Amey plc and Halifax plc, with ICT partners Hewlett Packard, Mitel and Morse to modernise and maintain the city's secondary schools.

According to Councillor Charles Gordon, leader of the city council, this project will guarantee that by autumn 2002, Glasgow will have the most modern and best-equipped secondary schools in the UK, if not in the world. Gordon says that without the PPP and using the conventional funding routes, it would take the city another 25 years or more to do such work.

He added: "The contract also guarantees over £200 million of life-cycle repairs and ensures agreed quality maintenance of all schools until 2029. At the end of the contract period all schools will be returned to full ownership and control of the council in good repair."

Anna Lagerkvist