Lewisham Borough Council has become the first council in seven weeks to secure funding for a Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project.

Deptford Green School, which is part of the last government’s shelved £55bn school building scheme, can now be built after the council secured £28.5m from financing partners earlier this week.

The full BSF programme for Lewisham has a contract value in excess of £400m and involves the major refurbishment or renewal of 12 secondary schools including 3 special educational needs schools.

Deptford Green will be a 1,100-place mixed comprehensive school in Lewisham.

Plans include the establishment of temporary school facilities, the construction of a multi-use games area, construction of the new main school and demolition of the existing schools and landscaping.

Senior debt funding was provided by Aviva, which also funded the Trinity School Lewisham, a school currently under construction.

Pinsent Masons advised Costain, and partner Kate Orviss said this was an encouraging sign for BSF. “This is the first PFI school to reach financial close since the beginning of July,” she said.

“Clearly this demonstrates that there are still schools being delivered under the BSF programme. In this time of uncertainty this is a welcome piece of good news.”

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