Making schools fit for purpose

Britain’s school building stock is, in many cases, badly in need of repair. Many schools struggle to deliver effective education services while battling conditions like damp and asbestos in ageing premises.

Investing in schools
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) recently commented on the situation as part of a wide-ranging report titled Building Better Britain: A vision for the next government, arguing that current improvement initiatives are not sufficient. The report says: “Faced with the greatest shortage of school places in decades, too many of the UK’s schools are past their life cycle and riddled with asbestos. The current school building programme [the Priority School Building Programme, covered on page 61] is just too cheap. We need to be spending 20 per cent extra on the new schools we build.”
    
Growing population
As the RIBA report points out, a booming UK population has meant that 250,000 more school places are needed now than in 2000, 90 per cent of them at primary level. London schools are the most oversubscribed, but urban centres throughout the country are also experiencing the strain, with one in five primary schools now full or close to capacity. Libraries, music rooms and the like are now being used as emergency classrooms to cope with these growing numbers.
    
What’s worse, the dilapidated conditions found in many schools are potentially having a damaging effect on learning and teaching. The Building Better Britain report finds that “of the 29,000 schools in Britain, 80 per cent of the stock is beyond its shelf life, a significant part of the school estate is in poor condition and insufficiently maintained.”
    
Efforts are mounting to combat this situation in order to ensure that schools provide a safe and pleasant learning environment for pupils. In addition to the PSBP, there are schemes with a regional focus such as the iESE (Improvement and Efficiency South East) framework. This £1 billion social enterprise is targeting problems in local councils throughout this region in England, with school buildings receiving significant attention.
    
Focus on Merton
Several schools in the Borough of Merton in South West London have recently had design and build projects announced as part of the iESE framework, all scheduled to be carried out in phases and completed by September 2015 by construction firm Balfour Beatty. The council’s cabinet member for education, Councillor Martin Whelton, said: “I think it is important for this to happen because we have seen a 39 per cent increase in birth rates. As an authority we have been actively addressing this – we have a duty to provide local schools to local people.”
    
Among the schools in the area to be helped by the scheme is Pelham Primary School in Wimbledon, which is set to undergo a £5.1 million redevelopment. With increasing demand for places at the school, the decision was made to expand from single to two‑form entry, and the ‘bendy’ design which was found to be problematic in a teaching environment is to be done away with. A three-storey classroom extension with additional facilities such as an SEN base and replacement library are planned, with the stated aims of minimizing disruption, carrying out work safely, completing all work on programme and delivering a quality building.

Inclusion and cooperation
It’s important in any school design and build project to involve parents at every stage so that they are made aware of any disruptions that will result, as well as of the ultimate benefits that are to come with a completed project. To this end, Pelham Primary School held consultations with parents where any relevant views and concerns could be aired, and, as the school comments, continues to communicate any significant updates to parents as soon as possible. School staff and governors at Pelham also say that they are “working closely with Merton and its architects and other consultants on all aspects of the plans for the expansion of the school.”
    
Hillcross Primary School and Poplar Primary School are each having similar projects carried out, with a respective £4.4 million and £4 million allocated for new school halls, entrances and teaching blocks. Both schools plan to increase their capacity from 420 pupils to 630 pupils, and to expand from two form entry to three.
    
St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School will also receive a new teaching block, library extension and link, altogether worth £2.7 million. This is to help accommodate the 30 per cent growth in pupil numbers the school has seen between the academic years 2007/8 and 2013/14. St Mary’s has said that its short term design and build strategy under the iESE framework extends to an additional two reception classes, and that in the longer term it aims to provide for seven extra classes by 2017/18, gradually introducing new class groups over the preceding period. Among the expected benefits of the completed project are greater space, more resources an increased sense of community and better teaching opportunities.

Building efficient schools
In addition to accommodating greater numbers of pupils, energy efficiency is increasingly coming to the fore as a key consideration in school buildings, both as a way to help the environment and significantly bring down schools’ energy bills. In April, the same construction firm responsible for the iESE school projects in Merton completed work worth £18 million on a sustainable building in Suffolk, handing Felixstowe Academy over to its customers, the Academy Enterprise Trust and Suffolk County Council.
 
With a capacity of around 1,800 secondary and sixth form students the academy brings together two previously separate schools, Orwell High School and Deben High School, under the same roof.
 
The building has high levels of natural lighting, natural ventilation and a highly insulated façade designed to minimise energy consumption. The new school will generate 10 per cent of its energy requirements using a biomass wood pellet burning boiler to provide heating, and a photovoltaic array to generate additional electricity to the grid. The renewable energy generation is 14KWh/m² – enough to light over 15,000 100w light bulbs for a whole night.
 
The new 11,000m² campus building includes a science lab, theatre-style main hall with flexible seating, performing arts studio, a new sports hall and multi-use games area. Two extended wings provide general teaching classrooms over three floors.
    
Councillor Lisa Chambers, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for education, skills and young people, said: “These modern facilities – designed around the needs of young people and their all-important education – will create the best possible environment within which teaching and learning can flourish.”

Moving forward
While the problems facing British school buildings are in some cases severe, they should not be thought of as insurmountable.  The projects slated for construction that are described here, as well as the recently completed Felixstowe Academy, point to possible solutions for improved building conditions and avenues for funding. As the RIBA report says, “we need to lay the foundations for inspiring environments for our children to thrive in.”

Further information
www.iese.gov.uk