BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE
MORE THAN THE SUM OF TH
Paul Hanbury,
Director, Public
Services, Navigant
Consulting, Inc.
discusses why
bringing funding
streams together
makes good sense
and is of paramount
importance today.
aving been a teacher and a
H
headteacher throughout the
70s, 80s and most of the Rodillian School (designed by Mentor for Leeds BSF) delivers brand new co-located facilities for the local community including
nineties, I would often dream
theatre, sports facilities and a Children’s Centre, with dedicated Childrens and Parents rooms alongside staff facilities and
Parents’ Teaching Kitchens, accessed by a separate, secure entrance from the rest of the school.
of the possibilities if the
buildings we occupied could be improved education’ and it wasn’t long before But we now stand at the beginning of
in line with the private sector. Wherever I capital began to flow into new school a new and altogether more challenging
looked – hotels, conference centres, buildings. phase of school building reform, brought
corporate headquarters, even office blocks Whatever one thinks about the last 12 about by the change in the economy.
– all were palaces of steel and glass, years of government, it has to be admitted While the short term appears to favour
cutting edge design, buildings that had a that it has been an exceptional time for further public sector building programmes,
‘feel good’ factor built in, while as a school buildings. The statistics speak for it is important that the movers and shakers
young headteacher, I had to decide themselves – over 1000 new schools up to at a local level focus on how best to get
where to place the buckets when it rained. 2007, and many more in the pipeline the most ‘bang for the buck’. To put it
Okay – it fostered something of a Dunkirk which represents a threefold increase in another way, if Building Schools for the
spirit amongst the staff (on good days) the previous 9 year period. Whether or Future (BSF) begins to look rather
and made the children and their families not all of the new schools are going to expensive, what is Plan B, given that there
acutely aware of the value placed on the survive the passage of time remains to be are still an awful lot of unsuitable
public services at the time, but the words seen, but there is no doubt that our school buildings where our children are being
’inspirational building’ rarely passed my, buildings are getting better all the time – educated? Indeed, is there a Plan B that is
or my colleagues, lips when we were both as places to foster creativity, sustainable?
talking about our places of work. I think imagination and learning and as efficient I do believe there is. Part of the
my frustration reached a peak when I was and ecologically sound places in which answer, I believe, lies in the opportunity to
invited to attend a meeting at the our next generation can learn about bring together capital pots. Obvious
Department for Education shortly after sustainability and efficient living. candidates for integration are those funds
they moved to Sanctuary Buildings with the
glass elevators and ‘hanging gardens’.
‘Why,’ I wondered ‘should our civil
servants be allowed to work in this when
the contrast with so many of our schools is
so stark?’ To be honest, I was there with a
Union hat on, so maybe I was not at my
most beneficent.
It probably wasn’t just the quality of
building, but in late 1997, I was tempted
to work for the Department and enjoyed
the delights of an office in this magnificent
building. Spurred on by my old mates,
who remained in their worn out schools, I
never failed to point out the disparity, and
encouragingly, there were plenty of other
good people who felt the same. The new
Government wanted to prove that they
St. Damiens’ RC School designs (designed by Mentor for Tameside BSF) intend for the Faith space to be a place of worship for
both the school and the wider community. The LRC is situated to allow adult learning to take place within the ICT and
were serious when it came to fulfilling the vocational studies spaces and the Medical Inspection Room has access for the wider community to be used for visiting health
promise of ‘education, education,
professionals. The brand new sports facilities will also be able to open as a stand-alone facility, with direct access.
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SUSTAINABLE FM | MAY 2009
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