award winning architects

Tuesday, 16 August 2011 00:00

Chris Jones, Education

Chris Jones

School Buildings In This Timid New World

Since Mr Gove decided to put an end to large scale school funding, our education team has been busy meeting, presenting and strategising how new school buildings might look in this timid new world.

We have been asking, like other professionals working in the secondary education sector, the same question as contractors, sponsors and members of other technical teams; how do you build a 21st century school in half the time, with half the budget and a greater emphasis on make do and mend, and still create inspirational and uplifting buildings that students feel proud of and present the UK in the best light? As a member of our dedicated education team in Bristol, I have noticed, like many other architects, a massive, overnight change in attitude that had up until recently, been focussed on a number of cryptic concepts, perplexing aspirations and often conflicting abstractions that were all part of the challenges facing school designers. Now, we see a much more money orientated attitude, where the focus has swung from the generous to penurious. I see nothing wrong with this, so long as the change in emphasis is appreciated by everyone involved in the new world of school projects; unfortunately, it seems that aspirations are as high in some quarters as they were in the 'good old days' so let's hope we're not seen as the bad guys, dashing hopes and cooling ambition.

I am not the first person in this profession to be saddened by the side swiping that seems to have come from certain Government representatives, criticising the very profession that is best equipped and flexible enough to respond to their unplanned shift in procedure. I guess we should see this as a natural, self-protection strategy, moving the spotlight away their own failings to manage the country's finances, to focus on those that have used extraordinary efforts to provide the education community with some stunning and vital buildings.

So where does our happy, talented team go from here? We are about to embark on an exciting academy project in Somerset which will test our ability to be creative with the architecture and the budget, but as I've already said, that's what we do. We are continuing to refine and build a low cost primary school model which would definitely meet with Mr Gove's approval as it embodies a lot of what his retail gurus would applaud; except that our design pre-dates their findings by some distance. We continue to find ways of creating interesting, affordable and idiosyncratic designs for schools in Abu Dhabi where, surprisingly perhaps, budgets are tight and demand is extremely high for top quality, affordable schools.

As a bit of a cravat waver, I get involved in a lot of stuff which keeps me interested and keen to try new approaches to a range of different building types. Long may it continue!