10


BUILDING PROJECTS


“What were your results?”


Learning from the first 18 months of cut-price school building


Yet projected UK population growth and immigration is


driving an average 12 per cent increase in schools places required across the UK (23 per cent in London) by 2024. Many buildings of the 1950s and 1960s are still in service, long after they should have been levelled. So the parsimonious gov- ernment has had no choice but to continue a schools building programme. But there were rules. Instead of overhauling every school in the land, the coalition


prioritised the 261 schools most in need of repair. Costs were circumscribed at £1,113/sq m (versus apparently between £2,000 to £2,900/sq m under BSF). Baseline designs and areas based on pupil intake and number are specified in “baseline designs” and must be complete within six months. Schools were targeted to be 15 per cent smaller and 7 per cent cheaper. The building envelope is likely to consume the largest cost


of a school (19.3 per cent according to the US’ National Institute of Building Sciences). So, for this supplement, Architect’s Datafile sought out expert schools’ architects and suppliers to ask them what they had learnt building with the highly challenging EFA budget so far.


Roving reporter, Michael Willoughby, talks to experts who provide hints and tips on maximising quality in the envelope


‘The average cost of a new school was


between £25-30 million, with some costing over £50 million’


I


t’s been a year since the Education Funding Agency (EFA) Large Contractor Framework was launched, and 18 months since ground-breaking took place on the first


school to be built using the Priority School Building Programme (PSBP). The PSBP is the coalition’s replacement for the last govern-


ment’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. The £55 billion programme to rebuild or renew all schools was a sitting duck target for the then new education secretary, Michael Gove. The average cost of a new school was between £25-30 million, with some costing over £50 million. The media also focused on controversial projects such as Foster’s £31 million Bexley Business Academy, which was dogged with problems. Sure enough, Gove axed it in 2010.


Holly Porter, founding director, Surface-to-Air Architects Classy facades with simple prefabricated layouts


“We have been creating schools for 10 years, starting under BSF, the buildings were going bonkers. The envelopes were crazy. No expense was spared. Architects were having a great time! But clients weren’t necessarily getting value for money – it wasn’t being spent in the way it should have been. You had problems like the green wall at Paradise Park Children’s Centre in Islington, which could not be maintained and, so, died. Our method remains to make use of techniques perfected


in the office sector – to employ simple layouts with a high- quality finish. Since the funding was cut, this has been a massive challenge.


We have found that the only way to achieve the price point is to use a combination of standardised or prefabricated elements along with buying in bulk. If you want quality at a low price you are not going to be


using on-site building because you are relying on subcontrac- tors. At least with factory finishes you have a chance of getting a high-quality spec.


respond online at www.architectsdatafile.co.uk


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