黑洞社区

The government has shelved plans to develop detailed standardised school designs in favour of publishing basic design guidance, 黑洞社区 understands.

In a significant policy shift, it is understood that the Department for Education no longer has plans to develop standardised designs for its school programmes - a central recommendation of Sebastian James鈥� government-commissioned review into schools procurement - and will instead issue only 鈥渂aseline鈥� design guidance.

It is understood that the 鈥渂aseline information鈥� will give only basic recommendations on the specifics of school design and will fall short of setting rigid specifications for school building.

Mairi Johnson, deputy director of design at the Education Funding Agency (EFA), the government鈥檚 schools delivery body, confirmed this week that this approach would be adopted on the first round of the government鈥檚 拢2bn Priority Schools 黑洞社区 Programme, expected to come to tender in September after a six month delay.

鈥淚t won鈥檛 be standardisation - we鈥檙e moving away from that. But there will be some baseline design information,鈥� she said.

黑洞社区 understands the 鈥渂aseline information鈥� approach will become embedded in school procurement, with no plans being developed for standardised designs, despite months of apparent government support.

In its initial response to the James review last July the government said it would 鈥渕ove to procure [standardised designs] immediately鈥�. A subsequent letter to local authorities from education secretary Michael Gove emphasised that he wished 鈥渢o develop a suite of standardised drawings and specifications for school buildings鈥�.

Simon Lucas, EC Harris head of education, said the 鈥渂aseline approach鈥� was a 鈥渄efinite shift鈥�. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to find a balance between standardisation on the one hand and completely bespoke on the other,鈥� he said.

A growing list of contractors are developing standardised designs and, although these will still be seen as central by industry to achieving the government鈥檚 30% cost reduction targets, industry experts said the lack of leadership from the government over the issue risks creating confusion over how much freedom local authority clients would expect in the design of their schools.

鈥淭here is a lot of frustration about the lack of direction, definitely,鈥� one insider said.

Mark Robinson, chief executive of Scape, a local authority-backed building procurement body, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 disappointing to hear this news. We need clear reasons as to why the government seems to be backtracking on this commitment.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not good enough if the plans are being ditched just because parts of the building industry are anti-standardisation, or because some perceive it as cheap and of poor quality.鈥�

In January, Scape鈥檚 joint-venture partner Willmott Dixon in Warwickshire after receiving approval from the county council. Willmott Dixon鈥檚 Sunesis range of standardised schools

Robinson said: 鈥淲e must defend our position - and the substantial investment already made in developing high quality standardised designs - because in these austere times, standardisation offers the most efficient way of delivering new and improved education facilities.鈥�

Simplified regulations

Mairi Johnson also said this week that the the government鈥檚 new 鈥渟implified鈥� school premises regulations would be implemented in September.

She said DfE had tasked the EFA with reducing and guidance to 25% of its current level and that the regulations would now only cover aspects of school premises that were not covered by other bits of legislation, such as health and safety, in a bid to reduce bureaucracy.

These would include aspects such as medical accommodation, acoustics, lighting, water supplies and outdoor space, as well as toilets and washing facilities, although she said the new regulations would no longer prescribe how many toilets schools should have, only that there should be 鈥渆nough鈥�.

鈥淲e want the schools to decide,鈥� she said.

She said the regulations would also include area guidance, but that would not be based on 黑洞社区 Bulletin 98, which currently sets the space standards for schools. 鈥淏B98 is the past,鈥� she said.

DfE plans to reduce the size of secondary schools by around 15% and primaries by around 5% and, more controversially, special educational needs schools by 20%.

In a separate development, he EFA said it had no plans to publish the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) research conducted by its precursor body Partnership for Schools on the previous government鈥檚 黑洞社区 Schools for the Future Programme (BSF).

This is despite calls from the industry and the British Council for School Environments to publish the research to help feed into future programmes.