Letters:Layout 1 01/07/2009 16:35 Page 11
letters
Recent weeks have brought the announcement that Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is taking
over the management and delivery of all school building and refurbishment programmes
from 1 October 2009.
L
essons learned by PfS through its develop a pre-procurement process for
work with BSF could be put to good BSF, we believe this move could provide
use in creating a less bureaucratic, an opportunity to aid this process, by
streamlined process that brings projects challenging local authorities to define
forward more quickly, creating new their educational strategy and to plan
opportunities for a wide range of how they will use the
practices, large and small. investment opportunity to
In all this, the most important thing is achieve a real
that education strategy drives school transformation.
design. The transformational agenda The creation of clear and
consistent pre-procurement
guidelines from PfS could
challenging local once again help to ensure a
authorities to define
simpler, more straightforward
bidding process that equally
their educational
brings about a step change in
the delivery of schools by
strategy
challenging orthodoxies and
stimulating innovation.
With a new head of design at
must be met if the emerging projects are the helm, we also hope that PfS
to deliver innovative buildings fit for a will implement minimum design
21st century learning experience and thresholds across the other
likely to transform the lives of children, programmes that now fall within
young people and families in the its remit, to enforce high
communities they serve. standards driven by educational
Having worked closely with PfS to transformation.
Philip Gillard,
principal,
Gensler
.
T
he announcement would support PfS who effectively will be
that Partnerships acting as a referee between local
for Schools (PfS) government and private investors and not
will be taking over being too convoluted by Whitehall ‘redtape’.
management of all The teething process is now over and
building schools the realisation of paying more focused
programmes in the attention to detail from ‘top to bottom’
country can only mean will allow a more efficient approach to
that education the systems currently in place for
procurement has stepped delivery and benefit the design teams on
up a gear from which we in the field making it all happen.
the construction industry
can all benefit.
As we are fast this will further
approaching the delivery of
the 100th school to benefit
focus attention on
from BSF funding, it is
reassuring that there is a
coherent mechanisms
government drive to
of delivery
support the evolving
Alf
programmes currently in
onso P
adro
, associate
, HKS
Architects
.
place and, with the more It is a welcome move and is evidence
clear/ direct role that the PfS will have, that ‘enhancing education’ programmes
this will further focus attention on are in full swing, albeit one would hope
coherent mechanisms of delivering that the transition will be seamless and
education building facilities. that lessons learned from the past will be
By moving the management reflected in the proceeding stages of
responsibility across, it frees up the which fine tuning will focus on the bidding
DCSF to concentrate on overseeing the process in the context of timescales/
‘big ideas’ for enhancing education and education philosophy and sustainability.
edbmagazine.co.uk 11
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