THE days of draughty, old mobile classrooms are numbered - according to North Yorkshire-based firm Portakabin.

The company, based at Huntington, York, is launching a tailor-made classroom building, designed for primary and secondary schools.

With the Government estimating that £5bn will be spent on school repairs and new buildings by 2005-6, the wooden mobiles which litter school yards across the country could now be replaced by the airy, energy efficient new classrooms by Portakabin.

The classrooms are 64 square metres in area and can accommodate classes of 30 pupils.

Hughie Clarke, education business manager at Portakabin, said the buildings, which incorporate two classrooms and a large cloakroom, had been developed after an in-depth analysis of the education sector.

It follows on from the success of the company's Lilliput nursery accommodation, a child-centred building.