SCHOOLS & EDUCATION FACILITIES SUPPLEMENT STANDARDISED DESIGN


LESSONS IN SCHOOL DESIGN


How much is last year’s James Review going to change the landscape for building services professionals working in the schools sector? Andrew Brister finds out who is top of the class when it comes to learning the new schools design curriculum


S


chool building is undergoing something of a hiatus. The glory days of the £55bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme


are over and the construction industry is nervously awaiting details of how its replacement, the £2bn Priority School Building Programme, is to be allocated. Education Secretary Michael Gove has


made massive changes to the outlook for those involved in the sector since the coalition came into power. Gove announced a review of all areas of the Department for Education’s capital spending in schools, early years, colleges and sixth forms, led by businessman Sebastian James. The James Review was critical of the


waste inherent in the procurement process under the BSF programme, and of the management of schools, which, in many cases, has led to poor energy performance in relation to design expectations. The aim now, says James, must be


20 CIBSE Journal March 2012


to prioritise capital schemes in terms of building condition rather than just educational need, and to concentrate on the provision of enough ‘fit-for-purpose’ schools places. James also called for new buildings to be based on standardised drawings and specifications. Innovative solutions that offer good value


for money will be called for, delivering schools faster and more cost-effectively than ever before. So how is the building services industry gearing up for this brave new world? ‘Even before the James Review came out, we were already looking at how we can deliver projects in a more cost- effective manner,’ says Andrew Swain- Smith, head of education at BDP. ‘It’s about looking at the things that are going on elsewhere in the construction sector and seeing how they can be adopted for schools.’ Inevitably, the talk is of standard


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