RIBA SCHOOLS CLIENT FORUM

Recessionary Trends in School Design & Construction

By Dr. Christopher French PhD.,Dip Arch., RIBA.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SOUND RESEARCH

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different

results”

Albert Einstein

REAL RESEARCH INTO THE HISTORY OF SCHOOL DESIGN

• PhD thesis (pub 1996) looking at primary school design in conservative controlled L.A. over the previous 20 year period

• 147 primary schools studied• 25 in depth• Interviews with range of staff• Staff completed 100 part questionnaire & scored• Interviews with design teams, educationalists and past

members of staff• Research into 21 small scale offsite extensions to schools in

Eastern Region (pub 2006)

RECESSIONARY TRENDS

DRAMATIC REDUCTION IN SPACE STANDARDS

ILLUSTRATION D119 - ANNUAL AVERAGE AREA PER PLACE IN ESSEX PRIMARY SCHOOLS

YEAR

AR

EA

( S

Q M

) P

ER

PLA

CE

ESSE

X S

CH

OO

LS

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93

AVERAGE

AREA/PLACE

NOTE

Areas based upon medians abstracted from major project committee brochures

KEY

Based on an analysis of 147 new schools and extensions (see French, C. P., 1995d)

This graph shows the average area per place acheived in new Essex primary schools year by year.

365

Periods of cuts in public expenditure

SPACE STANDARDS

• Small teaching area• Open plan with no dedicated circulation• Reduced storage• No specialist spaces

SPACE STANDARDS

Typical crowded open plan class base of a recession school

SPACE STANDARDS

Reduced space for coats and storage in a recession school

SPACE STANDARDS

Very little pure circulation in a recession school

QUALITY STANDARDS

• Poor quality deep plan internal environment• Poor quality materials requiring expensive

maintenance• Poor quality external works• Poor quality quality furniture and equipment

QUALITY STANDARDS

Poor quality daylight, acoustics and ventilation in deep plan schools

QUALITY STANDARDS

The use of poor quality materials leading to expensive maintenance

QUALITY STANDARDS

Featureless external environment at a recession school

PARSIMONY CAN BECOME A WAY OF LIFE

“I don’t care how much it cost as long as it looks cheap” – Deputy County Architect

OFF SITE SYSTEM BUILDING - MCB

• Economies of scale only worked for simple box like plans

• Costs increased dramatically if designers produced special designs to suit site demands

• Local planners/individual schools disliked its bland appearance and inflexibility

• The economics failed as the programme of investment dropped during recessionary periods and traditional build became significantly cheaper

OFF SITE SYSTEM BUILDING - MCB

Typical box like MCB school with added features

OFF SITE SYSTEM BUILDING – SMALL SCALE EXTENSIONS

• Research for 4 Eastern Region LAs• 21 Case studies 9 different systems• Cost can be 10% cheaper than traditional build• Total programme time no different from traditional

build • Onsite operations can be a challenge• M&E can be a challenge• Clients suffered from poor communications• Clients need to think carefully and weigh up pros and

cons before choosing off site construction

OFF SITE SYSTEM BUILDING – SMALL SCALE EXTENSIONS

Timber frame

Concrete panel

Steel frame

Timber panel

CONCLUSIONS• We need to use the experience of past recessions to argue for limits to the

present reduction in standards• We cannot prove the positive effect of good design on future education

performance standards but we can probably prove the negative effects of poor quality schools in the past

• There must be many schools, out there, living with a school built during a recession. They are struggling with the effects of reduced standards and they could help make the case

• Off site construction will not necessarily deliver reduced cost over traditional build particularly for smaller extensions

• We need to invest in proper research now if we are to have the facts available for the next recession

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