Secure alternative funding for your education interior projects

At Innova we have assisted many schools in the past in gaining grants from The Wolfson Foundation and The Savoy Educational Trust as well as provided guidance on leasing options available.  So you are in safe hands with us!

Currently, with schools on a funding tightrope and struggling to find the revenue to improve school interiors, it may be worth considering other possibilities too:

Funding options:

There are a number of other grants and funding options available to schools needing extra financial support:

Crowd Sourcing such as GoFundMe and Kickstarter are just a few examples where you can aim to raise money to fund your classroom refurbishment.

The Savoy Educational Trust Founded in 1961, this independent charity aims to help educational establishments renovate and enhance their existing or new interiors.  Their objective is to provide students with a professional vocational facility either to meet growing demand or to enhance learning environments.

The Wolfson Foundation A charity that has awarded more than £800 million of grants since 1955 towards projects that support schools, colleges and universities; in the fields of science and medicine, the arts and humanities, education, health & disability.

• Autumn round
  Stage 1 applications: accepted no later than 1 July
  Stage 2 applications: deadline 1 September
  Funding decision: December

The Ogden Trust was established by Sir Peter Ogden in 1999 to promote the teaching and learning of physics. We recently worked with The Derby High School in Bury as they perservered for five years to obtain funding and finally secures monies from The Ogden Trust.

Term time installation:

With major funding shortages, educators need to make their budgets work harder for them. In one of our previous articles we outlined the top ‘8 benefits to term time refurbishment.’  which includes a discount for term time working!

Quality products and services:

At Innova we believe in quality and durability, from the materials we use to our skilled production and installation workforce. Quality products and installations all helps to reduce the interior lifetime cost of a building.

• Carcasses are made from 18mm MFMDF as standard
• Doors are made from 18mm MFMDF or 18mm MFC dependent on client specification.
• Doors are held on Hafele Aximat 240° pivot hinge with an exposed axle solid design that eliminates the risk of fingers getting caught inside the hinge.
• A wide range of worktops are available for work surfaces from compact grade laminate (Trespa), solid surface (Velstone) to Melamine faced board with 2mm PUR edging.
• Highly skilled project managers and installation teams, who deliver projects to the highest standards of cleanliness and noise control, keeping disruption to a minimum.

Our accreditation to ISO 9001: 2015 means that Innova’s quality control is second to none.  Our process based quality management system enables continual improvement right across our business and guarantees you optimum efficiency.

We surpass client expectations with products and installations that are innovative, cost effective and high quality. Our design led approach and customer focus ensure projects are delivered on time and within budget.

Schools we have worked with and how they secured their funding

The Derby High School – The Ogden Trust & The Wolfson Foundation

Innova Design Group recently refurbished The Derby High School’s science laboratories as part of their new DISCOVERY facility opened by Sir Peter Ogden himself.

Following a lengthy process that took 5 years from the initial enquiry to Innova and for the school to secure funding for the laboratories – Innova stood out from the competition based on our unique designs and the placement of the utilities which helped give the ‘WOW’ factor with pupils.

“Innova were very accommodating and understanding considering the timescale involved in finding all the funding. Your design helped us to secure interest in the project.”
-Paul Kerr, Head of Science

The key challenge the school faced was that, in a number of laboratories the positioning of the utilities and layout of the tables did not provide the best working environment for practical study.

Click here to read the full case study

Brine Leas School -The Savoy Educational Trust & The Brine Leas Trust

With an increase in demand for Food Technology at the school, the challenge for Innova was to provide space for the increased number of students and the practical sessions taking place, whilst allowing for teaching flexibility and clear visibility of the pupils as part of room management.

After securing funding from ‘The Savoy Educational Trust’ and ‘The Brine Leas Trust’ the refurbishment became a reality.

“The layout is better for circulation and as a result, engagement. Students appear to be more focused and the number of practical lessons has doubled.”
-Kathryn Bradshaw, Business Manager.

Find out more about Brine Leas Food Technology room refurbishment

To read the full article and discover more funding options for your school, click here.