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The government鈥檚 official advisor on architecture has questioned its school building strategy following the news that the Department for Education is planning to relax space standards.

Last week, that the department has approved plans to relax space standards for schools, with a reduction of the overall gross area averaging 15% in secondary schools and 5% in primary schools for the entire school build.

It also emerged that the DfE has made green design , such as All Saints free school in Reading, which was originally intended as a zero-carbon passivhaus building but will actually be built only to minimum standards for a marginal reduction in capital cost.

Director of Design Council Cabe, Nahid Majid, said it was a 鈥渇alse economy鈥� to risk pupils鈥� long-term development by cutting design standards.

鈥淥f course it鈥檚 vital that we build schools to cater to increasing demand, and to do this cost effectively is crucial,鈥� she said.

鈥淭hat said, being seen to be responsible and intelligent in procuring building work does not have to mean adopting a moratorium on anything that isn鈥檛  鈥榖argain basement鈥�.

鈥淎ccording to the Carbon Trust, UK schools overall could save around 拢70 million per year by reducing their energy costs. The proposed All Saints free school would have cost only 5% more, but could have had a lower whole-life cost.

鈥淲ith regards to space standards for schools, the UK is one of the only countries in Europe which does not have mandatory space standards. Schools are where we will inspire and shape the next generation. It鈥檚 a false economy to put that at risk by offering young people a sub-standard learning environment.

鈥淲e should invest in our next generation, and at the same time, build schools that not only inspire students but actually reduce costs in the long run.鈥�

A DfE spokeswoman said: 鈥淲e are looking to lighten the burden of school building and premises regulations - in part, to reduce red tape, but also because we believe that high quality teaching is not dependent on expensive, custom-designed school buildings.

鈥淕enerally, we want to encourage a more flexible and entrepreneurial approach to thinking about capital and school building.鈥�