Education Buildings Journal
Learn, Innovate, Educate.
Claire Jackson Education Director, Galliford Try
Over the past 10 years demographic pressures on school places have continued to grow and are set to grow even further.
With particular pressures in London, the South East, and other urban centres, around 79,000 primary and 87,000 secondary places are required by 2021/22. For of all of us involved in providing those extra school places, the pressure is on. We are continuing to look at innovative ways to get schools built in whatever form they may be.
The Government has increased their commitment to the ‘Free School’ programme by pledging to open 500 new schools by 2020. However, as those of us in the sector are aware, the shortage of land has led to more and more diffi cult sites being considered to house those schools. This in turn, creates challenges for the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), and its contractors.
Many of these sites are in existing buildings which need extensive refurbishing or repurposing to bring them up to the required standard. Those that are mainly new build tend to be on sites that are restrictive in some way, through constrained working areas, or contaminated land for example. Inevitably these sites involve complicated design decisions which can have a lasting impact on the fi nal building delivered. In some instances, the schemes create innovative solutions but in others, the effectiveness of the new school is compromised.
Most of the ‘Free School’ projects are procured through the ESFA Framework which involves contractors competing on quality and cost criteria during a six-week design period. With all the challenges involved with the sites and existing buildings, this route doesn’t always provide the best design and/or build result for the client, the school trust or ultimately, the end user.
Two recent examples where a more collaborative procurement approach has resulted in outstanding learning environments for these ‘Free Schools’ are Harris Invictus Academy in Croydon, and Eden Girls’ School in Slough.
At Harris Invictus Academy in Croydon, Galliford Try and architects Scott Brownrigg delivered a new building for the Harris Federation on a constrained urban space.
Complications began with the sharing the site with the new school housed in temporary accommodation. The project then spent over 12 months in pre- planning due to the high expectations of the local planners who were looking for a ‘landmark’ building, which initially, did not match with the client’s brief or the available funding. A competitive design process would not
At Harris Invictus Academy in Croydon, Galliford Try and architects Scott Brownrigg delivered a new building for the Harris Federation on a constrained urban space.
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