School designed by Lord Foster 'is a nightmare'

A city academy designed by Lord Foster has been branded a "nightmare" after it became plagued by expensive glitches.

The Business Academy Bexley in Erith was hailed by Tony Blair as "the future of state education" when he opened its £31million building in 2003.

The 1,420-pupil school now has a deficit of £859,000 due in part to huge maintenance bills. Leaking roofs have caused blistered floors and staff have had to order expensive replacement lavatory seats, taps and door handles from Italy.

Sam Elms, chief executive of the academy, told the Times Educational Supplement: "It's a hugely expensive building and costs us an absolute fortune. It's a nightmare to run. If we could move, we would."

The academy, a combined primary and secondary school sponsored by Sir David Garrard, opened in 2002 and moved to its new building the following year.

A spokeswoman for Foster and Partners said: "There appear to have been maintenance problems at the school but we wish to make it clear that we have received no complaints about the building which was completed in 2003."