黑洞社区

The RIBA has warned that the end of the 黑洞社区 Schools for the Future programme will be 鈥減rofoundly detrimental鈥� to the construction industry and to pupils, as the sector braces itself for heavy job losses.

RIBA president Ruth Reed said: 鈥淲e know that school buildings that are designed well improve children鈥檚 attainment, happiness and productivity - this applies to both new and refurbished schools.

鈥淭hough spending cuts are being implemented across all government departments, essential spending on improving the school estate was long overdue.鈥�

Her comments come as the industry struggles to come to terms with the government鈥檚 announcement which, although widely trailed, affected more schemes than many in the sector expected.

One architect said this morning: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how our practice is going to survive. BSF makes up well over half of our workload.鈥�

Reed acknowledged that the BSF programme was 鈥渘ot without flaws鈥�, especially in its procurement process, but said: 鈥淚n attempting to reduce the deficit, it is essential that the government does not offset a fledgling economic recovery by solely investing in the capital expenditure projects with the most financial returns, but those that will affect long-term change to people鈥檚 lives; education is one of these fundamental areas.鈥�

She added: 鈥淭he RIBA urges the review team to recommend that the government prioritises school refurbishment and renovation; this is essential to meeting the UK鈥檚 carbon targets and to improving schools that badly need renewal.鈥�