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Thursday, 28 July 2011 00:00

priority-schools-building-p

Newsflash - Announcing The New ‘Priority Schools Building Programme’

The new acronym - PSBP... is it worth the wait?
We welcome the new £2bn Priority Schools Building Programme which Michael Gove announced on Tuesday.

 

Newsflash-Announcing The New ‘Priority Schools Building Programme’
The new acronym - PSBP... is it worth the wait?
We welcome the new £2bn Priority Schools Building Programme which Michael Gove announced on Tuesday.
The fact that there is a whole capital programme comes as something of a relief, even if the money is a fraction of the BSF pot. The decision to follow the PFI
route is an interesting one, given the initial condemnation that the system received from the Department for Education early
in Mr Gove’s tenure; although the U-turn is not wholly unexpected given the well placed rumours that have been circulating in the press recently.
This programme will not be a solution for all schools; it is expected that only fifty schools (twenty of these secondary) are likely to hear they have been successful
with their applications in December of this year. Schools which have had significant refurbishment in the last 15 years or contain significant amounts of listed
buildings on their sites “are unlikely to succeed”.
It is possible however that primary schools, might secure a slice of the extra £500 million of capital funding available this financial year to
authorities where rising pupil numbers are putting severe pressure on school capacity. Details of how allocations will be made for this separate pot will be provided over the summer and finalised in the autumn. This is good news in terms of
building on our existing successful primary schools work, especially in city centres such as Bristol, and looks like the quickest available funding to be forthcoming.
The Government has accepted in principle the majority of recommendations from the James Review of Education Capital and launched a new three month consultation
(ending mid-October) that focuses on two key areas: the best model for allocating and prioritising funds, and on the proposals for a more centralised
procurement process. Whilst these are important conversations, and in some ways it is encouraging that industry is being further consulted, we expect that it
will further hinder the implementation of the new capital programme.
Online applications for the new capital PSBP are therefore not open until October (with registration possible from now until October 7th), and whilst Mr. Gove
may be happy to wait until 2014 for the first schools under this programme to open, any further delay is unlikely to be welcomed by any schools that have already waited many years for new premises and have a rapidly growing maintenance backlog.
However, the Education Secretary has said that he will push ahead “more quickly” with other reforms suggested by Sebastian James,
including:
• Standardised designs for schools.
There is a desire to develop a “suite of standardised drawings and specifications”. There is reference in the original review to ‘codifying... establishedbest practice for eg. a science lab, a
resistant material lab and a toilet block’, which can only help the current process of designing this from scratch with each school every time. Listening to Sebastian
James at a recent conference, we are hopeful that the level of proposed standardisation means just that. If, as seems possible, broader emphasis
is placed on the strict standardisation of layouts and adjacencies by the DfE however, the challenge for us will be to deliver school designs that respond to
the individual needs and local context.
• A programme of data collection on building condition.
We support this essential move to assess how to target the new money and programme. There is a requirement that applications for PSBP must be supported
by a recent condition survey in an effort to kickstart the information gathering. Our in-house building surveyors are experienced at quickly and efficiently
carrying out this work.
• Simplifying regulations around school premises and design guidance.
A separate consultation on this will be launched in the autumn. We see this as a positive step which will potentially streamline the design and procurement
process.
It will be interesting to see how these ‘advance’ issues are progressed ahead of the main consultation process. The Government has stopped short of endorsing James’ proposals for a much stronger
centralised procurement process, under which all but the smallest projects would be procured by a powerful central body, so the opportunity remains to use local or regional procurement
and project delivery arrangements as long as they can demonstrate value for money. We are already seeing and supporting some limited examples of this, and think it has the potential to
be a way of moving school procurement forward more quickly and efficiently... hopefully before 2014.
Working in Partnership with you
It is clear from Michael Gove’s announcement that there is still some way to go before a definitive programme for the
rebuilding our dilapidated schools will begin to take hold. This delay, however, creates an ideal opportunity for Authorities and
Governing Bodies to consider their most appropriate course of action and what can
be created from their existing building stock. Stride Treglown’s Education Team are in a perfect position to assist in the preparatory work that will help schools and Local
Authorities respond to the emerging schools funding strategy.
We are available to assist with the application process, carry out condition surveys and are experienced in compiling Outline Business Case reports and
masterplans once this stage is reached. We would be pleased to have initial conversations with you prior to your applications being made.
For more detail on the recent announcements and how this will affect your school(s), please contact David Hunter/ Caroline Mayes directly.
Bristol
Promenade House,
The Promenade,
Clifton Down,
Bristol BS8 3NE
T 0117 974 3271
F 0117 974 5207

The fact that there is a whole capital programme comes as something of a relief, even if the money is a fraction of the BSF pot. The decision to follow the PFI route is an interesting one, given the initial condemnation that the system received from the Department for Education early in Mr Gove’s tenure; although the U-turn is not wholly unexpected given the well placed rumours that have been circulating in the press recently.

This programme will not be a solution for all schools; it is expected that only fifty schools (twenty of these secondary) are likely to hear they have been successful with their applications in December of this year. Schools which have had significant refurbishment in the last 15 years or contain significant amounts of listed buildings on their sites “are unlikely to succeed”.

It is possible however that primary schools, might secure a slice of the extra £500 million of capital funding available this financial year to authorities where rising pupil numbers are putting severe pressure on school capacity. Details of how allocations will be made for this separate pot will be provided over the summer and finalised in the autumn. This is good news in terms of building on our existing successful primary schools work, especially in city centres such as Bristol, and looks like the quickest available funding to be forthcoming.

The Government has accepted in principle the majority of recommendations from the James Review of Education Capital and launched a new three month consultation (ending mid-October) that focuses on two key areas: the best model for allocating and prioritising funds, and on the proposals for a more centralised procurement process. Whilst these are important conversations, and in some ways it is encouraging that industry is being further consulted, we expect that it will further hinder the implementation of the new capital programme.

Online applications for the new capital PSBP are therefore not open until October (with registration possible from now until October 7th), and whilst Mr Gove may be happy to wait until 2014 for the first schools under this programme to open, any further delay is unlikely to be welcomed by any schools that have already waited many years for new premises and have a rapidly growing maintenance backlog.


However, the Education Secretary has said that he will push ahead “more quickly” with other reforms suggested by Sebastian James, including:

• Standardised designs for schools.

There is a desire to develop a “suite of standardised drawings and specifications”. There is reference in the original review to ‘codifying... established best practice for eg. a science lab, aresistant material lab and a toilet block’, which can only help the current process of designing this from scratch with each school every time. Listening to Sebastian James at a recent conference, we are hopeful that the level of proposed standardisation means just that. If, as seems possible, broader emphasisis placed on the strict standardisation of layouts and adjacencies by the DfE however, the challenge for us will be to deliver school designs that respond to the individual needs and local context.

 
• A programme of data collection on building condition.

We support this essential move to assess how to target the new money and programme. There is a requirement that applications for PSBP must be supportedby a recent condition survey in an effort to kickstart the information gathering. Our in-house building surveyors are experienced at quickly and efficiently carrying out this work.
 

• Simplifying regulations around school premises and design guidance.

A separate consultation on this will be launched in the autumn. We see this as a positive step which will potentially streamline the design and procurement process.


It will be interesting to see how these ‘advance’ issues are progressed ahead of the main consultation process.

The Government has stopped short of endorsing James’ proposals for a much stronger centralised procurement process, under which all but the smallest projects would be procured by a powerful central body, so the opportunity remains to use local or regional procurement and project delivery arrangements as long as they can demonstrate value for money. We are already seeing and supporting some limited examples of this, and think it has the potential to be a way of moving school procurement forward more quickly and efficiently... hopefully before 2014.


Working in Partnership with you

It is clear from Michael Gove’s announcement that there is still some way to go before a definitive programme for the rebuilding of our dilapidated schools will begin to take hold. This delay, however, creates an ideal opportunity for Authorities and Governing Bodies to consider their most appropriate course of action and what can be created from their existing building stock. Stride Treglown’s Education Team are in a perfect position to assist in the preparatory work that will help schools and Local Authorities respond to the emerging schools funding strategy.

We are available to assist with the application process, carry out condition surveys and are experienced in compiling Outline Business Case reports and masterplans once this stage is reached. We would be pleased to have initial conversations with you prior to your applications being made.

For more detail on the recent announcements and how this will affect your school(s), please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it directly.

Stride Treglown, Promenade House, The Promenade, Clifton Down, Bristol BS8 3NE
T: 0117 974 3271

Download Priority Schools Building Programme