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Background

The UK Government has pledged to significantly increase capital funding for schools in an attempt to raise educational standards. To this effect the recent initiation of the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme represents the biggest single government investment in improving school buildings for over 50 years. The initiative comes on the back of an increasingly widely held belief that older schools, as well as those more recently built or refurbished, are inadequate in their ability to cope with anticipated changes such as shifting pedagogy, curriculum and learning expectations. The programme – worth £2.2 billion in its first year (2005-6) – has been established to ensure that pupils learn in 21st-century facilities. This is to be achieved by rebuilding or refurbishing every secondary school in England in the next 10-15 years.

In short, the aim of BSF is to drive reform in the organisation of schooling, teaching and learning, and in the procurement of school buildings. However, a recent study carried out by CABE (2006) shows that, though still in the early stages, many of the BSF schools are facing the same problems as those that have been built during the last ten years under the Private Finance Initiative. Similarities are drawn with the audit commission report ‘PFI in schools’ (Audit Commission 2003) which in its assessment of quality and cost in early PFI projects (up to 2002) showed that these did not deliver high quality buildings as expected.

This study takes as its starting point the very real concern that all these BSF schools might end up as opportunities lost and fall short of the aspiration of the creation of interesting and exciting buildings that would make teachers and pupils proud.

Aims

The overall aim is to assess whether links exist between new, well designed buildings and the procurement and briefing process utilised. In other words, the study sets out to:

The overall aim is to assess whether links exist between new, well designed buildings and the procurement and briefing process utilised. In other words, the study sets out to:

• Examine the way in which the briefing process of the BSF programme impacts on the design of the educational facilities.
  
• Improve the understanding of current practice and how it can be adapted to enable the creation of well designed schools.

Objectives

The study will:

• Explore how the key stakeholders, public and private, perceive design quality and identify common themes and critical issues;
  
• Investigate how the briefing process is undertaken throughout the procurement stage of the BSF process;
  
• Establish how design quality is assessed in the briefing stage of the BSF process;
  
• Identify a set of ‘best in class’ schools (national and international) to be used as reference projects. Examine the procurement route and the briefing process utilised when designing these schools;
  
• Outline possible solutions for the achievement of well designed schools under the BSF programme.

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries from the research will include:

• Educationalists and school pupils impacted by the design of schools;
  
• Governors, bursars and head teachers concerned about the cost of maintenance and operation;
  
• Local education authorities (LEAs) as enablers of the procurement process;
  
• Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) who are tasked to giving children and excellent start in education and enabling young people to equip themselves with life and work skills;
  
• The construction industry (including consultants, contractors and subcontractors) seeking to obtain a good return from project involvement.