RIBA presses govt to publish survey of collapsing school buildings

Department of Education (DfE) officials had committed themselves to identifying which buildings could structurally fail before the end of last year with the publication of a ‘Building Conditions Survey’, The Guardian reported on Sunday (29 January).

However, no date had been set by the department for making it known which schools could collapse, the newspaper said.

In a statement responding to the delay, Allford urged the government both to publish the findings of the so-called ‘Building Conditions Survey’ and for the DfE to immediately shore up those buildings most in danger of failing.

Allford, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), told the AJ: ‘The safety of school building users is paramount, so the government must urgently publish the Buildings Conditions Survey and ensure any buildings with structural safety risks are immediately assessed, interim safety measures put in place, and all necessary works scheduled to an urgent programme.’

He continued by calling for a school rebuilding programme ‘action plan’ that would address conditions as well as focusing on sustainability.

‘With so many buildings likely to be in need of overhaul, we hope to see the government seize the opportunity to invest in good design to ensure these vital community assets are fit for future generations,’ said Allford.

He added: ‘The school rebuilding programme – be it retrofit or repair – must address the climate emergency by ensuring funding supports sustainable design, delivering value for money, and improving educational outcomes. We urgently need a considered action plan.’

Speaking to the AJ, Glasgow-based Holmes Miller director Mark Ellson said many councils had been left with outdated buildings as a result of the 2011 cancellation of the £55 billion Labour Schools for the Future programme. The massive rebuild drive was scrapped by then education secretary Michael Gove and replaced by a smaller Priority School Building programme.

Ellson told the AJ: ‘Councils were left with no choice but to retain buildings that had previously been earmarked for demolition, complete with their backlog of maintenance issues.

‘The fact that the revised Priority School Building programme doesn’t cover the magnitude of the work required to make these facilities safe is something the government should be addressing as a matter of urgency.’

An official briefing submitted to the House of Commons library last month found that, since 2009-2010, government capital spending on schools had fallen 37 per cent in cash terms and by 50 per cent when adjusted for inflation (at 2022 prices).

The report – which acknowledged a 29 per cent real terms rise in spending for 2022-23 compared with the previous year – said: ‘In financial year 2021-22 capital spending by the Department for Education was around £4.9 billion; this was the lowest amount recorded since 2009-10 (in real terms 2022-23 prices).’

Architype managing director Jonathan Hines, whose practice also designs schools, said the UK government should take lessons from Scotland, where spending on schools has reduced the number of students using ‘poor’ or ‘bad’ structures by 28.3 per cent since 2017 (falling from 36.6 per cent to 8.3 per cent).

‘Our children deserve better,’ said Hines. ‘The UK government would do well to look at the pioneering example of the Scottish Government’s Learning Estates Investment Programme, which is addressing carbon reductions and building conditions across their entire estate.’

A separate financial report released by the DfE in December found ‘a risk of collapse of one or more blocks in some schools’ – mainly those built between 1945 and 1970 using ‘system build’ light frame techniques.

The department has been approached for comment by the AJ.