analysis
last 12 months shown, with the average project GIFA over this period being 5,500 sqm. This is considerably smaller than the 7,500 sqm average GIFA seen prior to 2015, which reduces the cost benefits experienced by larger schemes; and the market has seen 4.3% inflation. There are also interesting figures on the
cost of building across the schools estate. Primaries - New development: average cost per pupil place £19,883
- Rebuild and extension: £14,164 - Refurb: £11,053 Secondaries - Rebuild and extension: £15,822 SENs - Rebuild and extension: £67,379 The downward pressure on school building
costs was remarked upon by Matt Collins, Head of School Places Policy, Department for Education, at a Westminster Education Forum last month. Collins said: “I think we’ve made real progress over
recent years. We’ve brought down the cost of the schools that we build in the ESFA, quite significantly, by around a third. “That means we can support more
children to have access to high-quality premises, than we would previously have been able to do with the same amount of money. So I think, personally, there’s a really strong story to tell there.” Collins’ figure of 30% shows there are
many caveats in the way costs are computed by different local authorities, but whether it’s 20% or 30%, architects, contractors and suppliers are all feeling the Government pinch. That pinch may continue, said Collins, as
modern methods of construction and modular build are increasingly employed. “Mike Green, the Director of Capital at the ESFA, thinks that there is a really significant opportunity here. “The Department for Education, along
with a number of other departments, will, from 2019, adopt a presumption in favour
of modern methods of construction, provided that it offers value for money, which we think it often will. And we think there’s really significant scope here, to reduce the cost of building, to speed up delivery, to have less problematic construction on site, because you can get it done much more quickly and neatly.”
2014 and 2015 represented the lowest point of the gross costs trends which has since increased in 2016 and 2017
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