Education: Designs for £10m primary 'world class'

If it gets approval from planners work will start on a new 10m building at Richmond Hill Primary, in Leeds, in January next year.

It will be the first school building in the country to be

Passivhaus certified – an approach to construction which uses up to 90 per cent less energy than standard buildings. The plans have been developed by the architectural and urban design company Space Group.

Education Leeds chief executive Chris Edwards said the facilities would be world class. "Not only will the children have access to an outstanding classroom environment and brilliant teaching, the wider community will also be able to use the facilities outside of normal school hours.

"The new school, which will be one of the most advanced school buildings in the world, will provide much needed additional places to meet the demand for primary school places in this part of Leeds."

Legal challenge on way to 55bn buildings axe

LOCAL councils are launching legal action to challenge Education Secretary Michael Gove's decision to axe a 55bn school- building programme.

The coalition Government announced earlier this year that it was scrapping rebuilding schemes which had not been signed off, meaning projects at 700 schools across the country were cancelled.

This included plans for new buildings in six education authorities in the region: Bradford, Doncaster, Kirklees, North East Lincolnshire, Rotherham and Wakefield which missed out on more than 1bn in expected funding through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Now several councils affected by the cuts have announced that they are prepared to challenge the Government's decision.

Nottingham Council said it was prepared to take "whatever actions are necessary" as it started a legal challenge to Mr Gove's decision to halt the BSF initiative, which meant funding to refurbish two of the city's schools was cut.

Waltham Forest Council, in north east London, also launched legal action, saying the decision to pull the funding would have a "catastrophic effect" on pupils.

Mr Gove axed the BSF initiative in July, and announced a review of all capital spending on schools.

Nottingham Council said: "We have sought counsel's advice on whether to take legal action to resolve this dispute and our decision to push ahead with legal proceedings has not been taken lightly."