黑洞社区

Local authorities and schools are more than twice as likely to accept standardised designs for school buildings than they were 18 months ago, according to exclusive research by 黑洞社区.

A survey of local authorities and schools for 黑洞社区鈥檚 latest Education White Paper showed that 46% of local authorities and 41% of schools would consider buying fully pre-designed schools, compared with 18% and 11% respectively in similar white paper research published in August 2011.

The move, which indicates a shift in clients鈥� acceptance of standardised design principles, comes amid a continuing drive from the government towards standardised school design, in an attempt to cut up to 30% from the cost of school building.

Although the government is not insisting that schools follow fully standardised designs, its baseline design guidance issued last autumn 鈥� which will be implemented on the 拢1.75bn PF2 element of its Priority Schools 黑洞社区 Programme - requires that schools follow a common set of specifications, and contain standardised design elements that can be replicated in other school buildings without the need for completely new designs.

A further 27% of local authorities (and 40% of schools) said they would consider standardised units, such as toilet blocks or sports facilities, but not entire schools.

The findings were drawn from a survey of almost 250 education clients and construction firms working in the education sector as part of research for 黑洞社区鈥檚 UK Education 2013-15 White Paper, published this week.

The survey also found continuing dissatisfaction among construction firms with the government鈥檚 management of school building programmes. Seventy-nine per cent of firms said they were 鈥渄issatisfied鈥� or 鈥渧ery dissatisfied鈥�, while only 20% described themselves as 鈥渟atisfied鈥�.

To buy 黑洞社区鈥檚 UK Education 2013-2015 Whitepaper