Minimum Design Standards Set for Schools
All new or refurbished secondary schools delivered through the Building Schools
for the Future (BSF) programme will be required to achieve a minimum design standard.
The move, announced at the Partnership for Schools Conference on 18 September by
schools minister Jim Knight, will mean that designs that fail to meet the required
standard at bidding stage must be improved.
The news was welcomed by CABE, the government's design watchdog.
CABE chief executive Richard Simmons said: “We are delighted. This is a principle
that CABE has long argued for and it applies beyond schools.
He added: “Design thresholds are a tool that government could use across the whole
public building programme, without over-burdening the procurement process, to prevent
bad design and motivate bidders to set themselves the highest standards.”
CABE is in discussions with Partnerships for Schools and the Department for Children,
Schools and Families on how a standard might operate in practice.
The announcement follows early reviews of BSF proposals by CABE’s schools design
panel.
It found that 22 out of 25 schemes at planning application stage up until September
2008 were either "not yet good enough" or "mediocre".
News delivered via Planning Resource. |
For More Information Contact:
Graham Burns
TPP Law Limited
53 Great Suffolk Street
London SE1 ODB
t 020 7620 0888
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e info@tpplaw.co.uk
Email:
Graham
To view Jim Knight's speech
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