What next for the school estate article featured in ISBL’s “The Voice” Magazine
Surveyors to Education (S2e) has been featured in the latest edition of the Institute of School Business Leadership’s (ISBL) The Voice magazine. The article, titled “What Next for the School Estate?”, discusses the current challenges in managing school estates and offers insights into what may lie ahead.
In the article, Chloe Pett, Head of Insights at S2e, and Harj Chana, Senior Building Surveyor, address key issues schools are facing, such as maintaining aging infrastructure and working within tight budgets. They also provide valuable perspectives on what upcoming spending reviews may bring and suggest how schools and academies can take a strategic approach to managing their estates
See below to read the full article, first featured in Issue 37 of The Voice magazine on pages 41 and 42 to learn more about how to take a proactive approach to managing your school estate.
What next for the school estate?
With the new government firmly in place, we’re all wondering what this will really mean for the education sector. With welcome commitments to invest in additional teachers and improve nursery provision, capital to improve the school estate was absent from Labour’s manifesto.
Chloe Pett, Head of Insights, and Harj Chana, Senior Building Surveyor, at Surveyors to Education outline the situation currently facing the education estate, what to look out for in forthcoming spending reviews, and how education settings can get ahead by taking a strategic approach to managing their estate.
The focus on RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) in autumn 2023 shone a temporary light on some of the challenges facing the school estate. However, the National Audit Office’s report on the Condition of school buildings in June 20231 had already identified that 38 per cent of school buildings are beyond their initial life design, and therefore the presence of RAAC is just one of many issues to consider. In fact, concerns about the structural safety of schools have been circulating for several years: in 2021 the Department for Education (DfE) assessed the threat to safety in school buildings as a critical risk.
Earlier this year, having concluded its immediate management of RAAC, the DfE turned its attention to another structural issue within the school estate: system builds, which are building structures used in the post-war period to deliver significant numbers of school places quickly. According to recent guidance released by the DfE, in the 20 years following the war, up to 80 different ‘system builds’ were developed.
Despite being past initial life design, most ‘system builds’ can be kept structurally sound with adequate maintenance, but it is worth noting that asbestos-based material may also be prevalent in these buildings. There is also a subset of ‘system builds’ that the DfE is particularly concerned about where the replacement of these buildings would be the preferred or necessary solution. Indeed, two types have already been escalated following urgent building closures – known as Laingspan and Integrid system builds – and 23 schools identified with these were prioritised for the first phase of the school rebuilding programme.
According to the National Audit Office, there are 3,600 ‘system builds’ out of an estimated 13,800 across the school estate that have concrete or timber frames, which may mean they are more susceptible to deterioration and could lead to a higher risk of hidden structural defects. We understand the DfE had planned research into these types using invasive structural assessments, but at the time of writing (July) the DfE has not released any further information about plans to manage these buildings. We will have to wait and see what approach the new government will take to understanding the scale of the challenge facing the education estate in relation to system builds and other ageing buildings.
The challenge to address sustainability and climate change
While structural safety is the primary concern when thinking about system builds, these types of buildings, and many more ageing school buildings, are often very thermally inefficient, which has implications for energy efficiency and the achievability of net zero. If Labour is to keep the commitment to reduce carbon emissions from public sector buildings by 75 per cent by 2037, they face a significant challenge.
To date, the DfE has taken steps to engage the sector with sustainability initiatives such as the National Nature Park. It has also set targets for all schools to have sustainability leads and Climate Action Plans in place by 2025 and has been running pilots to understand the best solutions to decarbonisation. The centrally delivered Schools Rebuilding Programme will deliver energy-efficient, ‘net zero-ready’ buildings, but the scale of the programme means this will amount to just two per cent of the total school estate.
Last year the DfE was challenged about the lack of funding available to achieve its ambitious strategy in a report by the National Audit Office and subsequently by the Environmental Audit Committee. In response, the DfE said it would aim to publish a detailed roadmap by autumn 2024 on how it planned to achieve its sustainability targets. It also confirmed the intention to accelerate action from Spring 2025 onwards, which seems to assume a large injection of capital funding in the next parliament.
Funding
Since 2010 there has been a large drop in school capital funding and recent inflationary pressures have squeezed budgets further. According to the 2023 National Audit Office report on school buildings, the DfE is aware of the implications on the overall condition of school buildings, which it expects to continue to decline if further capital spending in the form of expanding the School Rebuilding programme is not forthcoming.
Given that all 500 places of the Conservative’s School Rebuilding Programme have been taken – with many schools identified with RAAC taking the final places – and a lack of mention about school buildings in Labour’s manifesto, it leaves the question: what will they do next to address the ageing education estate in need of decarbonisation?
What can schools do?
“We recommend that all education settings engage consultants to help them understand the building structure of all blocks within their estate.”
While acknowledging the scale of the challenge, there are clear steps that schools can take to ensure their buildings are safe, with a long-term plan to deliver the energy and sustainability upgrades needed to future-proof their estates.
We recommend that all education settings engage consultants to help them understand the building structure of all blocks within their estate to ensure they are being maintained appropriately and kept safe. Alongside this, a review of the thermal efficiency of buildings as part of an energy audit will help schools develop roadmaps to net zero, prioritising cost-effective action that will provide immediate paybacks while setting them on the path to achieving carbon-cutting measures in the future.
In this transition period of a new government, knowledgeable consultants will keep their clients up to date with emerging estate and capital policies. Meanwhile, having a costed plan of action will put schools in the best position to act if new funding opportunities present themselves.
About Surveyors to Education (S2e)
Surveyors to Education (S2e) work solely in the education sector to provide estate strategy, funding and surveying expertise to MATs and academies, giving trustees the information they need for making effective decisions. For more information on how we can help you develop the optimum learning environment for your pupils, contact us today to find out more at 0116 5070130 or email enquire@s2e.org.uk.
