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AET case study

Barker has worked with the Academies Enterprise Trust for over 10 years. We support the Trust with their strategic estates development, building compliance and capital projects.

Specifically, this work involves:

• Pre-acquisition due diligence access audits – to identify compliance with the DDA.
• Maintenance plans and budget advice – condition data is transposed into a maintenance plan, which identifies solutions to condition or suitability related issues to enable future spending and liabilities to be assessed and prioritised.
• Development plans – layouts and design are developed to assist the trust in the transition of the proposed school to academy status.
• Design and contract administration – full lead consultant services to implement projects required as a result of the transition.
• Professional support – general professional advice in all areas related to the building stock of the trust.

One of the Trust’s corporate aims is to “Deliver high quality, value for money support services.” The relationship we have nurtured and maintained with the Trust since the outset is a testament to the success of the partnership in helping them achieve this corporate aim.

Our collaborative working won us the PFM Partners in Consultancy Award. The Judges noted that ‘Barker has enabled the AET to reduce in numbers to be more efficient and focus on spending where it is required for schools and their pupils. They also batch work on properties to make it more cost-effective. We saw an impressive example of the parties working together and delivering significant improvements as and when funding permitted.’