Construction National

The cost of building secondary schools under the Priority Schools Building Programme will be cut by an average of £6 million each under new design standards issued by the Department for Education.

Cost reductions of 30 per cent will be applied to the £2 billion PFI part of the £2.4bn PSBP, when compared with the scrapped £55bn BSF programme.

The Department for Education has published new baseline design standards which comply with the output specifications written for the Priority Schools Building Programme.

CN understands that savings of £1m will be achieved on an average two-form entry primary school, based on the BSF formula.

There are 122 primary and 91 secondary schools to be procured among the 219 PFI schools which will go to market later this year.

Contractors will be expected to build schools designed to a maximum cost/square metre price of £1,113/sq m for the school building (excluding costs such as fees and external works) for an all-in total of £1,465/ sq m – the level currently achieved by free schools and academies but significantly less than the BSF programme.

The designs represent a 15 per cent “reduction in wasted space” for secondary schools and 5 per cent for primary schools based on BSF.

The Education Funding Agency said that the savings were representative of the whole school and it would be up to the supply chain to design the allocation of space within the building envelope at the cost set out, but insisted this would not mean smaller classrooms becoming more acceptable.

The standards will not be compulsory for the extra £400m capitally financed programme for the 42 most ‘in-need’ schools to be procured through the academies framework.

However, EFA director of capital Mike Green said he wants contractors to aim towards those standards for the 42 schools to be procured shortly as well as the 219 PFI-schools.

He added: “I want the schools to be built at this price or less. On the framework we have we are working towards these baseline designs.

“I would like to think contractors will see our direction of travel and adapt this.”

He added: “I get that people have to work and make a profit but it’s about not being into designing everything uniquely and from scratch.”

He also told CN that savings achieved under the £2bn programme would not mean less being spent overall on schools and said “no-one is threatening to take any money off us – we want great schools but would like them to be appropriate and efficient”.

The standards produced initially are based on a 420-place primary school 1,200-place secondary schools.

Galliford Try education director Michael Buchanan told CN he was “excited” to see the standard published because it gives companies like Galliford Try the “green light to go public with what we are doing”.

The contractor is currently working up three proposals with different architects in regions including Scotland and the Midlands.

Mr Buchanan said while 30 per cent savings will be challenging, he is confident they will be able to meet them, provided the projects are batched at a significant enough scale to ensure cost efficiencies through the supply chain.

He added the contractor has spent the last 18 months working towards solutions priced at the £1,113/sq m figure and is hoping to use elements including a ‘kit of parts’ form of design, BIM and offsite construction to achieve the savings demanded by government.

He said: “With batching there is more leverage to drive down costs because there is a better pipeline for suppliers, but we are confident we can do it.”

Galliford Try’s proposals would see targeted teaching space requirements under building bulleting briefing frameworks BB98 and BB99 maintained, in response to teachers demands to the firm that classroom space and environmental standards be maintained, but other areas were negotiable such as storage and atria.

The EFA will produce further baseline standards both before schools are procured and after construction work has been completed on early adopters so that lessons can be learned from new construction methods.

The EFA believes the accompanying environmental standards will ensure the schools meet the equivalent of BREEAM Very Good ratings – despite the compulsory rating under BSF schools still being under review.

The plans are designed to attempt to tackle overheating and high energy consumption primarily.

Key environmental criteria to meet PSBP Output Spec include:
Cross ventilation with no cold drafts and heat recovery in winter.
Use of thermal mass, night cooling and cross ventilation to prevent summertime overheating.
Daylight design to produce balanced glare-free luminance across the classrooms and to reduce energy consumption due to electric lighting.
Acoustics to provide good listening conditions with classrooms easily upgradable to teach children with hearing impairments.
Energy- and water-efficient buildings that are easy to monitor through internet-based metering of separate energy end-uses.

The designs were commissioned in response to the James Review, which called for a set of standardised plans.

While they are meant to provide a guide for contractors, individual companies can choose to develop the standards into detailed schemes or propose alternatives and will be evaluated on a mixture of cost and design efficiency.

The EFA said the plans:
Include dramatically improved environmental standards compared with BSF schools;
Are designed to a cost/square metre price of  £1,113/sqm for the school building;
Allow for modular construction so that parts can be built offsite to reduce costs further;
Stop the waste of taxpayers money on unnecessary consultancy fees and the unnecessary duplication of design work.

Mr Green said: “[The plans] show that good design can be delivered at a low cost and we are aiming for around 30 per cent [reductions].

“We are trying not to limit the innovation of contractors. Is modular building allowed? Yes. Is offsite building allowed? Yes.

He admitted the standards are “more difficult” to set out for refurbishment projects as they depend on “what you start with” but that there were designs for the 1,200-place finger-block secondary school, based on a ‘kit of parts’, that could be used for refurb jobs.
Reaction:

British Council for School Environments chief executive Nusrat Faizullah: “New standards on light, temperature and ventilation, based on post-occupancy evaluation of school buildings are welcome. We know these factors have an impact on teaching and learning.

“The key question remains – will these designs ensure new school buildings are fit for purpose? Let’s not forget that great buildings inspire people. They dictate how teachers teach and children learn.

“A shrinkage in space means less flexibility for those that use them, inhibiting innovation. Decent spaces mean more room to learn new and broader skills.

“Will ‘austerity schools’ prove to be value-for-money schools? Time will tell.

“And crucially, we must have robust systems in place to monitor how well new school buildings function – otherwise we’re in danger of not learning from the failures of the Building Schools for the Future Programme.”

Laing O’Rourke director of education infrastructure Stephen Hockaday: “Laing O’Rourke is pleased that the EFA has clarified their expectations for new schools.

“We are targeting the new funding rates and are confident in achieving them, making every effort to drive efficiencies through the use of building information modelling technology and design for manufacture and assembly to produce schools that perform to the new environmental standards.”

Harry Darby, capital projects director at not-for-profit academy sponsor E-ACT: “We are satisfied that the designs offer a clear and uncomplicated approach to providing effective teaching and learning environments.

“The designs offer many aspects of best practice and we particularly welcome the quality of the ventilation, acoustics and lighting in all of the teaching spaces.”

Sport England property director Charles Johnston: “Our experts on facilities have been working closely with the Education Funding Agency on the development of these designs.

“Getting the design right is essential in securing maximum value out of indoor school sports facilities, both for pupils and the local community.”