analysis
School building costs continue to fall
A national cost benchmarking exercise has been undertaken recently by Hampshire County Council in partnership with East Riding of Yorkshire Council on new build, extended and refurbished primary, secondary and SEN schools
Council provides a useful reference point for local authorities when establishing their school building costs. One of its aims is to help the Local
T
Government Association (LGA) to encourage greater collaboration between local authorities to drive down new and refurbished school costs. The project sample comprised 660
projects from across England, consisting of 510 primary school projects, 105 secondary school projects, 41 SEN school projects and four All-Through school projects. The report shows that primary school
gross costs as a whole sample have decreased by 19% since 2012, after indexing. The years 2014 and 2015 represented the lowest point of the gross costs trends, which has since increased in 2016 and 2017.
HE new benchmarking report, compiled by Hampshire County Council and East Riding of Yorkshire
arrangements; and adopting a more cost driven approach. In 2016 the new build gross cost rose
slightly, which is considered to be a reflection of the market conditions, Brexit and the impact of the increase in housing output on prevailing prices. Rebuild and extensions to existing
school buildings, new teaching blocks and re-built schools on existing sites have seen an increase in gross costs over the last two years. A number of factors influence this trend but the main is that these projects tend to be small to medium size extensions with average floor areas up to 1,400 sqm, which reduces the cost benefits experienced by larger schemes. On average, the report shows,
Education Skills and Funding Agency gross costs are lower than local authorities but the gap is reducing. This is in part due to the collaborative working between the ESFA, local authorities and EBDOG, the Educational Building and Development Officers Group which represents local authorities on all issue associated with education, property and capital planning. ESFA projects were more than 20%
The primary school sample consists of 510 projects which are split into three school categories
New development projects built on
greenfield sites, with 100% of the works being new build, have seen a steady reduction in gross costs over the last five years, equating to a 21% reduction since 2012. The positive trend indicated is likely to be as a result of three factors, says the report: the adoption of a standardised approach to design; more delivery through collaborative
10
educationdab.co.uk
lower prior to 2013 but are currently 16.6% lower in the 2016 sample of projects. There are a number of factors influencing these costs: ESFA projects are generally much larger than local authority schemes and therefore benefit from economies of scale; the ESFA has had the benefit of batching projects and a historically keen contractors’ market but has recently experienced a rising construction market and this study has confirmed that costs increase beyond 2015. Early indications for the 2017 data is that costs are on a downward trajectory, but the sample sizes are very small so this is highly indicative.
The study demonstrates that heavy
refurbishment projects, which typically extend the economic life of a building by approximately 15 - 25 years have an average gross cost per sqm of £2,970. This represents a 38% increase when compared to a sample of equivalent medium refurbishment projects which typically increase the economic life of a building by up to 15 years. Given that heavy refurbishment projects include significant structural alterations and may also include the replacement of facades and roof finishes, this additional cost would be expected. The report also examines secondary
school gross costs. Rebuild and extensions to existing school sites, new teaching blocks and re-built schools on existing sites have seen a steady increase in gross costs over the last 24 months shown. The report points to a number of factors influencing this trend: smaller projects have continued to be procured over the
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49
