You have to go back to Victorian times to find investment in school buildings at the present huge level, says Richard Hurst, head of operations for the British Council for School Environments.

Just like a century or more ago, we have a momentous opportunity to design, deliver and equip buildings that support a new vision for education, children’s services and our communities.

Across the country local authorities have this once in a lifetime opportunity and the rewards - if we get it right - will be huge: genuine transformation of education for our children, our economy, our society and our future. The modern challenge is how do we successfully push forward this essential investment when, like so much of modern life, the future shape of education in the 21st century is so difficult to foresee with any clarity?

Teaching and learning requirements are the heart of a school design brief because as the needs of learners change so the school design must respond. There is much talk today about “personalised learning”, that is tailoring education to individual pupils’ needs, interests and aptitudes in order that every child reaches their full potential, regardless of their background and circumstances. Rapid change demands new spatial requirements placing emphasis on flexibility, external spaces and technology - a diversity of spaces for a diversity of learning.

Government programmes Every Child Matters and Sure Start also call for a new “joined up” approach to the well-being and education of children and young people with services such as health, social services and community policing located on or near school sites. This “extended schools” concept places schools at the centre of communities to provide facilities for life-long learning, community entertainment and development.

In addition, the growing use of ICT for teaching and learning tools will have a direct impact on the environment of a school. Young people will have the means to learn anytime, anywhere and, with the development of on-line communities, to do so in touch with a wide range of people who can help them, and travel with them, in their development.

For all these reasons you can see that designing schools or their refurbishment is a many faceted and far more complicated challenge than it has ever been in the past.

Design quality
From the iPod to the Dyson vacuum cleaner to the Prius hybrid car modern life shows us how pivotal good design is in everything we make, use and do. In school design this could not be more important. Consumers of goods and services are the arbiters of success and those who work in and use learning environments are the real experts. Involving them in the design of a school environment is key to succeeding. Reflecting users’ ideas, comments, needs and desires into the design brief for a learning environment produces a sense of ownership that can have long term positive effects on the way the environment is used and treated. If users understand what an environment can do they will have more incentive to ensure that the building does what it should.

Users and communities should be involved as much as possible in all aspects of the decision making process, from site location, design, room layouts and access requirements to fixtures, fittings and furniture and so on, and this leads to better decisions and outcomes. Stakeholders, in the widest sense, will be the best source of knowledge and wisdom about how an existing school’s systems and design work. Gathered and used this input leads to better decisions as to how the new school might be used or improved in the future.

Positive thinking flows from this - if staff and pupils understand what options are realistically available, they are more likely to take the project seriously and think positively about it. Creating a design together means that everyone has an interest in making it work once it is built and in use. The resulting consensus can make the process of implementation and construction more effective.

Fitness for purpose follows - user involvement strategies aim to produce places teachers want to teach in and which allow them to meet the demands of the national curriculum. It is also easier to refine the design of an environment to cater for people’s changing requirements if they have been consulted thoroughly on their needs beforehand.

Thinking space is vital - a participatory process creates a space in time for all to think about the future direction of a school and how their ideas might be translated into a design. The probable resource constraints can also be discussed, reducing the likelihood of disappointment later.

Improved relationships result - participation provides the perfect opportunity to forge links with local communities, businesses and organisations, which is particularly useful for schools hoping to offer extended services. Working together on a design project can also help to improve relationships within the school, say between staff and pupils or between different departments.

A powerful catalyst for change emerges - enabling discussion on the design of the school building can act as a catalyst for change to the management or pedagogy of the school. Generating an enhanced sense of ownership over the school can also increase a sense of pride and wellbeing.

Experience shows that good design quality need not cost more if there is rigorous early planning and research on a project. In the long run using quality materials, furniture and fittings will often save money. Quality standards must be stipulated in the brief at the outset of a project and embedded in the design. Of course, the procurement process must then facilitate this drive for quality.

Sustainability
The last generation of schools, those built in the UK during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, often compares poorly with their surviving Victorian compatriots. Poor design, poor materials and poor construction mean that their short lives, high maintenance costs and heavy energy consumption have proved to be the very antithesis of what we now mean by “sustainable”. This century’s circumstances demand designing, procuring, constructing and running schools in ways that minimise harm to the environment in every way. A sustainable school is also a school that supports the development of the local community, initiatives for regeneration and through those nurture of the ‘whole child’.

Some educational developments can make these aims no less challenging. The growing role
of ICT, whiteboards and other technology and, as a result, their energy consumption can add massively to a school’s carbon footprint and the resulting waste heat can make for ventilation problems. The extended school concept means schools have to be lit and heated for many more hours in the week than formerly, and someone has to reliably turn things off when not being used or when everyone has finished for the day. The importance of facilities management in the running of a modern school cannot be overestimated. Sustainability requires diligence, it requires a change of culture, and it requires commitment from everybody, from teachers and pupils right through to the governing body and the local authority.

Sustainability is not a given. It is often very fragile, and a lack of attention to good design and effective post-occupancy management will lead to dashed hopes.

Innovation
Designing schools in these circumstances naturally provides huge scope for innovation. Suddenly there is opportunity to explore new pedagogies, new concepts, new layouts and exciting new technologies. And with that new opportunity there is the chance of getting things horribly, and very expensively wrong. The schools we are building will not be replaced again for a very long time. So how do we avoid mistakes?

One way available to everyone is to learn from what others have already done – use tested innovation. In the UK and in other countries many innovations have already been tried or are being implemented. Denmark and the USA, for example, are other countries facing the same challenges but often approaching them from very different starting positions. Time spent exploring such projects, visiting the schools, talking to their designers and the teachers actually using them is time spent invaluably in the early stages of a design programme.

Building a new school or refurbishing one has never been more complicated and challenging.
There is no template that provides the solution to the problem or even a component part of the problem. A brilliant solution for circulation will work in one place, but not others. A toilet design will suit one community but not another. A floor plan may work for one educational ethos, but no others. One way to learn from inspirational architects, specialists, suppliers of equipment, constructors and other educationalists sharing the task of designing schools for this century is to meet others in the same situation. Our organisation, the British Council for School Environments (BCSE), was established in 2006 to work with everyone involved in school design and building. Our training courses, national and international study tours and other opportunities to meet like-minded people are a unique way to learn from the experience of others. For members our website provides a large and growing knowledge base.

We are a charity and membership is free for LEAs and their executives, schools and teachers. If you are involved in planning or running schools or just want to keep abreast of what is happening, I urge you to join today.