Victorian Schools PlanInnovative and Sustainable Schools

Dr Peter Stewart

General Manager Infrastructure

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Victoria

25 September 2009

• Victorian government school landscape

• Victorian government school characteristics

• School infrastructure policy directions

• An integrated approach to sustainability:– Environmental sustainability– Economic sustainability– Social sustainability

• The proving ground: rural school replacement program

• The refreshed approach due to the Economic Stimulus Plan

• The way forward for government schools in Victoria

Overview of Presentation

• Strong and vibrant government school system serving about two thirds of Victoria’s school students

Victorian government school landscape

Victorian government school characteristics

• Most current school buildings were constructed quickly in 1950s to 1970s in response to a period of rapid population growth using lesser quality materials

• Victoria’s government schools comprise approximately 29,000 buildings with a depreciated replacement value of $4.3 billion and associated land value of $6.4 billion

• Current government school buildings provide approximately 7.2 million square metres of floor space of which 3.7 million square metres is in teaching spaces.

Source: School Buildings: Planning Maintenance and Renewal Nov 2008 Victorian Auditor General

Two thirds of floor space

> 20 years old

Almost 50% of floor space was built between 1960 and 1984

• Post 1970s the level of investment in school buildings has not been sufficient to renew and maintain facilities to provide the type of environment needed to develop students’ learning potential.

• Recognising this legacy, and the need to address it, the Victorian Schools Plan committed to rebuild or renew all government schools by 2017

• The initial funding of $1.8 billion will more than double annual expenditure on school construction and rebuilding between 2007 and 2011

Source: School Buildings: Planning Maintenance and Renewal Nov 2008 Victorian Auditor General

Victorian government school characteristics (continued)

• Devolved system – schools have autonomy, but we view infrastructure from a regional and network perspective

• Investments linked to educational improvement plans

• Focus on best practice school design, but individual school solutions

• Capital works programs managed by DEECD as no public works department

• Using alternative delivery models e.g. public private partnerships, pilots for delivering maintenance services

• Raising the bar on environmental standards and community use

School infrastructure policy directions

An integrated approach to sustainability

Invest wisely to meet today’s needs without compromising our children’s ability to meet the

community’s future needs …

Environment

Economic Social

Environmental sustainability

• Base ESD features mandated for all new buildings and review of innovative ESD features

• Modelling of building orientation to optimise designs

• Building management systems incorporated to reduce the load on heating and cooling systems

• High levels of insulation and use of high performance glazing

• Water harvesting and recycling for use in the building

Environmental sustainability• Night purging and use of automated louvres

• Buildings are supplied with sub metering, an outside weather sensor and an internal electronic display

• Students’ monitoring of efficiency of new buildings built into curriculum

• Integration with solar schools program

• School-level environmental policies and practices

Environmental sustainability

Economic sustainability

• Long term public investment strategy - plan schools to maximise use and minimise over entitlement

• Focus on networks of schools and not individual schools – sharing of resources

• Need contemporary buildings to maximise student outcomes

• Permanent facilities provided in accordance with long term enrolments, and relocatable buildings for enrolment growth

• Flexible spaces to suit traditional and innovative teaching practice

• Maximise operational life and minimise maintenance costs for schools

• More efficient planning and procurement processes

Social sustainability

• Responsiveness to community aspirations – locally initiated co-locations and mergers

• Major regeneration projects in disadvantaged areas with primary schools as community hubs for early years centres, family services

• Community use encouraged in all schools

• New designs offer community meeting spaces / access

• Agreements with local government for long term joint use of facilities

• Many schools in rural Victoria were established as single teacher or small country schools – their buildings are now outmoded and/or functionally obsolete

• The Rural School Replacement Program was established to provide permanent replacement facilities at 40 rural schools across Victoria with long-term enrolments between 50 to 150 students.

The proving ground: rural replacement program

The proving ground: rural replacement program

Rural school replacement program

Rural school replacement templates

Zig Zag 126-150 + Admins

ADMIN 1ADMIN 2ADMIN 3ADMIN 4ADMIN 5

Rural school replacement templates

Lessons: rural school replacement program

Innovative designs are suitable for traditional rural schools Templated designs can offer significant benefits for our schools Standardised buildings can be designed for low tech construction

in remote areas Environmentally sustainable features are important for all schools Design for community use of rural schools is important as they

are community hubs

The refreshed approach due to the Economic Stimulus Plan (ESP)

• The rural replacement program was rolling out successfully and then the ESP was announced

• Rolling out 1400 projects using the traditional approach was not feasible

• Templates were mandated for the ESP but DEECD only had templates for rural primary schools

• A series of 34 templates were developed for primary and specialist schools

• A standard specification was developed for these templates

• Adopted the design principles from the rural replacement program

• Compressed consultative period required new communications approaches

P21 Library and Learning Neighbourhood

Design templates

Infrastructure innovation

P21 Library and Learning Neighbourhood

Design templates

Early Learning Centre

Design templates

Key lessons

Design template innovation should be linked to a change management strategy

A network approach can be successful outcome for the system The sustainability constraint can be used to generate excellent

outcomes for schools

Environment

Economic Social

Questions

Dr Peter Stewart

Department of Education andEarly Childhood Development

Victoria