As Paul Lake from ceiling specialist Sain-Gobain Ecophon (Ecophon) points out, “In a new build we will be involved with the building specification putting forward cost effective acoustic solutions to suit the clients or architects aesthetic requirements and budget. The solutions can be more expensive in a refurbishment as it can be difficult to achieve the same acoustic feel whilst avoiding light fittings or ventilation units and you are quite often working with limited head height, which is why direct fix systems are utilized. These are engineered with high acoustic absorption in in the case of wall panels, high impact resistance.”
Linda Briffett from floor supplier Altro agrees: “Theoretically there may be more preparation cost incurred on a refurbishment, especially when taking up and disposing of an old floor finish. On a new build, preparation costs should be minimal.”
Refurbishment is the cornerstone of the governments Building Schools for the Future Programme, which is about rebuilding and/or refurbishing every secondary school in the country that needs it – and there are about 3,500 secondary schools. There is £45bn to be spent over15 years to refurbish existing schools, constituting the largest single schools capital investment programme in over 50 years.
In addition, the DfES plans to refurbish or rebuild half of all primary schools, also over 15 years. “We are already investing around £2bn a year in primary schools and early years. The Chancellor announced in March 2005 over one billion pounds’ worth of new investment over three years from 2008, with a commitment to invest for around 15 years,” says Jane Houghton from the DfES press office. “We envisage that by joining up new investment to other central and local Government resources, we should be able as a minimum to rebuild or take out of use at least the worst 900 primary school buildings and give 8,000 (45%) of primary schools major investment to put them at the heart of their community. In addition, we plan to ensure that the remaining 50% have sufficient investment to maintain and improve their buildings.”
One of the particular challenges to consider when embarking upon a refurbishment project, is how to organise the work around an existing school. This can mean organising everything around the limited school holidays or moving children from one area of the school to another. It is a challenge that is all too familiar to Conport, which supplies decant buildings to schools during major refurbishments.
“Northlight buildings are suitable for use as both permanent and temporary buildings, so no compromises need be made in accommodating students during refurbishments,” says Andrew Merton. “The cost of temporary buildings used in refurbishment projects is a significant part of the overall project cost. Renting prefabricated buildings costs the same as purchasing them over a period of around 2.5 years or more. Obviously if you can use a prefabricated system which can have a permanent use after the refurbishment project this is a major advantage.”
The students’ comfort also has to be taken into consideration. It is hardly fair to expect one set of children to suffer while a refurbishment is taking place, even if future pupils will enjoy vastly improved facilities. “In a major refurbishment students still have to learn and pass exams,” says Merton. “They can’t be fobbed off with an inferior learning environment for a period of years which might represent a large part of their education. The temporary classroom solution chosen must be as good as the refurbished school will be in terms of the learning variables that matter.”
The comfort of students is something that has sometimes been overlooked when budgets for refurbishments and rebuilds have been worked out. Rob Minshull from Nortek furniture is astounded at the lack of attention to detail. “It seems incredible that people can spend £15 million to build a beautiful new school with great architecture, as green as can be, with every conceivable feature and then put complete rubbish into it. It’s just illogical isn’t it?” he says.
“This country went wrong because while the education authorities held the purse strings they simply put out tenders for chairs lets say for three years for years and years and the only thing that mattered was cost. So you got cheaper and cheaper and nastier and nastier,” he adds. “You got to a situation where people in schools thought that was the norm, well, it isn’t the norm. It’s the norm in this country but if you take a look at Europe – in most European countries, the quality of the furniture is fantastic and lasts a long time.”
Nortek chairs are ergonomically designed to minimise back problems and increase concentration in the classroom – so they actually help students to achieve better results. “I know it sounds strange but the fact of the matter is when kids are comfortable they don’t fidget and they concentrate more. It’s a win win situation,” adds Minshull.
In 2005, Newcastle University carried out research that proved that making small, low-cost alterations to schools such as painting classroom walls can improve pupils' performance. The research, carried out on behalf of the Design Council and the Centre for British Teachers, showed that improvements made to school buildings that were below an acceptable level did have a positive impact on student morale and performance.
Ecophon also takes a holistic approach towards its refurbishment projects when installing its new ceilings. As Paul Lake explains, “Our systems help provide a calm, quiet, balanced environment which will benefit the children and the teachers both with normal hearing and those with hearing impairments. An acoustically treated classroom will enable the teacher to teach without having to raise their voice. Children will not have to shout over their peers to be heard, making for a generally quieter classroom, the result is less teachers taking time off sick due to stress headaches and voice strain. The children will also achieve consistently better results.”
Linda Briffett says that most of the education work carried out by her company Altro is refurbishment. “Whilst difficult to quantify exactly I would estimate the split to be 20% new build and 80% refurbishment. I say difficult to quantify as a large volume of our material is sourced direct by clients, or via flooring contractors who have relationships with their local school, particularly on the refurbishment side and this is often purchased through our distribution network,” she says.
Briffett finds that a refurbishment project can sometimes result in improved quality flooring for the school as rebuilds involve so many factors competing for a limited budget. “One of the frustrations on a new build project is that internal finishes are specified in line with a performance specification agreed with the architect at the beginning of the project, but floor finishes, being one of the last items to go in are often squeezed on price. Cheapness/cost saving doesn’t usually mean long-term value for money for the client,” she says.
Briffett finds that when schools embark on a refurbishment, they think more carefully about the details. “When purchasing direct schools tend to be “careful” but not necessarily go for the cheapest option, recognising that paying a little more up front can be a good investment and represent better value for money in the long term – even phasing projects to accommodate this,” she adds.
So, if the word “refurbishment” makes you think of patching up and making do, think again. The Newcastle University researchers discovered that bringing school buildings up to an acceptable standard did improve pupils’ performance, but that adding “bells and whistles” to match the facilities of private schooling has very little impact whatsoever. There was no evidence to suggest that performance continued to rise when facilities went from “the equivalent of a Ford to a Ferrari”, concluded the survey. And as far as comfort and practicality are concerned, a Ford would beat a Ferrari every time.
