EDUCATION
Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust (BWCET) Framework
Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust (BWCET) Framework
Programme dates: Four-year framework April 2024 to April 2028
Client: BWCET
Following a very extensive pre-qualification and tender process Able was appointed as single source main contractor for capital expenditure construction works on all 25 schools in the North of the BWCET Region, plus the BWCET Head Office building in Washington.
The Trusts stated purpose of the framework “The aim of this ground-breaking initiative was three-fold; firstly to move focus to delivery of projects across the full school year, removing the need to procure at a project level; secondly to ensure best value through a robust ‘rate-card’ approach to pricing and by appointing contractors to work with us to formulate the most cost and time efficient works programmes and thirdly to secure local support, creating meaningful and lasting social value opportunities, including employment opportunities. All suppliers went through a rigorous evaluation process, as part of the procurement, for both quality and cost to ensure the highest standards and best practice and has enabled the Trust to move ahead at pace.”
Since the summer of 2024 Able has successfully completed 18 individual projects ranging from single fire shutter installations to a £900k reconfiguration project at St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon in a live school environment.
The majority of projects have been completed during the school’s annual six-week summer holidays, which required careful pre-planning and close working with the supply chain. All Able and supply chain site employees have Enhanced DBS.
Able works collaboratively with the Trust, Arcadis, the clients retained Project Management, Design and Cost consultant, and also the individual schools to develop each scheme from initial concept stage to the finished design through the pre-construction and construction stages.
To deliver the projects under the framework Able built a dedicated core management team and supply chain lead by contracts manager, Les Wharton, in order to meet the extremely tight deadlines and maintain continuity, thus harnessing learning and knowledge over the four years of the framework.
