THE Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) applications for 2023/2024 are open and have a deadline of this month for academies, sixth form colleges and voluntarily aided (VA) schools to register for capital funding. Established by the Department of Education, with the objective of identifying buildings in need of repair, funds are
A recent blog written by the Department for Education (DfE) highlighted some key points about fire safety in schools. While the article stressed the importance of ensuring all students and staff are safe at school, the author made some interesting claims which were misleading and need clarification. As we head
National contractor Wates Construction has been awarded a £16m contract to build the new state-of-the-art The Whitehaven Academy School, its second educational facility in the area after completing Campus Whitehaven last year. The development will replace the existing Whitehaven Academy School on Cleator Moor Road, which will be demolished to
A training hub aimed at providing opportunities for the unemployed, addressing Shropshire’s housing shortage, and boosting the county’s construction industry, has been given the go-ahead after a £650,000 Government grant was secured by a strong consortium of local businesses. Known as the Marches Construction Ready Partnership the group which includes
THE Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) applications for 2023/2024 are open and have a deadline of this month for academies, sixth form colleges and voluntarily aided (VA) schools to register for capital funding. Established by the Department of Education, with the objective of identifying buildings in need of repair, funds are granted on the strength of applications, which leading roofing firm, PermaRoof Commercial, is supporting educations facilities with. Applying for the capital grant is essential for the development, maintenance and safety of education establishments – 1,405 projects across 1,129 schools and colleges are already set to benefit from £498M of funding throughout 2022 and 2023. The annual application opening marks an opportunity for education facilities to future-proof their buildings, with roof, window and central heating replacements taking priority. Sunny Lotay, national commercial manager at PermaRoof Commercial, explains: “The CIF provide essential funds for vital building work across schools and colleges, however, like most funding applications, the process isn’t always straightforward. A little-known fact is that suppliers can actually support at the application stage, providing relevant structural surveys and evidence of the work required, which in turn can strengthen an application against thousands of others.” Every project application is scored against three assessment criteria, each weighted independently. Project need contributes to the majority of the score at 60%, followed by project cost at 25%, with the remaining 15% being scored against project planning. Sunny added: “The first step for any education facility considering a flat roofing project with the support of CIF funding is to enlist a flat roofing specialist to conduct an in-depth roofing survey. From this they will be able to report on the current condition, potential improvements required, and recommended solutions. “By choosing to work with a reputable specialist to support an application, the project requirements, planning and costing will all have been outlined by roofing experts. This gives extra authority and structure to the CIF application submitted, which will increase the likelihood of receiving funding. It makes sense, therefore, to enlist the services of a supplier sooner rather than later.” Applications are now open, with a deadline of this month for registration and December for final submission. It then takes four months for all the applications to be individually assessed by the Education and Skills Fund Agency, part of the Department of Education, with successful projects being notified around April time. Discussing PermaRoof Commercial’s recent work in the education sector, Sunny said: “Recently our team has confirmed work at three academies with Southern Industrial and Kiers Group, having worked with them for the last few months on the best approach. “At the schools we conducted core tests and survey reports to determine the solution that was required. From this, we offered full specification support ensuring the schools were aware of the cost, need and planning process – all of which could go on to support a CIF application.” For more information on how PermaRoof Commercial can support with a CIF application and subsequent work, please visit permaroofcommercial.co.uk or call 01773 608839. For more information on CIF applications visit the government website. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
A recent blog written by the Department for Education (DfE) highlighted some key points about fire safety in schools. While the article stressed the importance of ensuring all students and staff are safe at school, the author made some interesting claims which were misleading and need clarification. As we head towards the long-awaited revised Building Bulletin 100: Design for Safety in Schools, it begs the question as to why the government is looking to make a backwards step towards fire safety and not require sprinklers in all schools? The Department of Education blog post made two interesting claims, firstly that “Fires in schools are very rare and fewer than 1 in 1,000 school buildings are damaged by fire each year”. In the second statement, it said that ‘Home Office Data showing there are fewer than 500 school fires per year, with 90% of fires limited to one room or causing no damage.” So just how accurate are these figures? In the first statement, let’s look at how many fires in school premises cause damage. Using the fire incident data presented in the publicly available dataset there were 5,120 fires over the 10-year period 2010/11 to 2019/20 in schools reported to be Usually Occupied or Under Construction. Looking at the fires where the reported “Total Damage Extent” is anything other than zero square metres, there are 3,743 incidents. This would lead to an average of 374 fire incidents each year where fire damage is reported. How many school buildings? Based on the first statement, this would mean there are over 350,000 school buildings in the English Schools Estate. There does not appear to be any publicly figures published on the number of school buildings. An article from the Construction index talks to 70,000 school buildings. This aligns to the government report on the condition of schools[1]. Although this report refers to “teaching blocks” to highlight that it collected data on 22,031 schools, comprising 63,942 teaching blocks. Based on these figures it is hard to determine that there are over 100,000 buildings let alone 350,000 buildings in the English school estate. Therefore, without a clearer explanation of how they calculated this I cannot find figures to support the first statement. How many fires in schools are reported as not spreading beyond the room of origin? As noted above, there are 5,120 fire incidents recorded in the period of 2010/2011 to 2019/20. Fire impact is recorded based on the observation of the spread of fire in square metres of damage and based on a description of how much of the building is impacted. Looking at those latter descriptors for fire incidents, they indicate 4,600 incidents as not spreading beyond the room of origin. This would be 89.8% of incidents. Based on these figures the second statement is based on the fire incident data. However, having said this the room of origin could be rather bigger than one imagined. It is surprising to note that at least 5% of these incidents reported as being limited to the room of origin cause damage to an area greater than an average classroom area of 50 square metres. Impact of school fires The article states that fires in schools are rare but I cannot find evidence that convinces me of that. It doesn’t talk about the impact of a fire on a child’s education and the ripple effect. Fifteen days of a school term is 5% of a child’s learning lost for that academic year. The government acknowledges that missing lessons has an impact on attainment at key stages. They track attendance and have commissioned reports, which confirm the harmful impact. Indeed, fines of between £60 to £120 can be levied for a child missing a single day of education. The disruption caused by school fires will adversely affect the results of students, and the government’s own statistics confirm this. The BSA has always highlighted that BB100 sets the right expectations around the protection of schools and the continuity of education. It sets an expectation that the school should be fully functional within 24 hours of a fire, apart from the room where the fire occurred. The BSA wants the government to explicitly maintain these objectives and enhance the “sprinkler expectation” in the revised BB100 so that fewer schools are damaged and destroyed by fire. Fewer than one-in-six new schools have been built with a sprinkler system installed. It is time we changed that. 1Condition of School Buildings Survey – Key findings – May 2021, Department of Education
National contractor Wates Construction has been awarded a £16m contract to build the new state-of-the-art The Whitehaven Academy School, its second educational facility in the area after completing Campus Whitehaven last year. The development will replace the existing Whitehaven Academy School on Cleator Moor Road, which will be demolished to make way for a new three-storey education facility and sports hall, together with associated parking and landscaping. The main school building will contain a mixture of general teaching spaces for 900 pupils aged 11-16, with a focus on specialist teaching spaces for subjects as science, PE, design and technology. It has also been designed with flexibility and future expansion in mind, with plans to accommodate a 150-pupil sixth form centre in the next five years. Wates is carefully phasing the works and strictly adhering to social distancing guidelines to help minimise any disruption and protect workers and pupils at the school. Government mandated BIM 4D modelling will also be used to foster greater collaborative planning, design co-ordination, and clash detection. Work started on site in late June, with handover of the new school set to take place in early 2022. It will be delivered in partnership with supply chain partners SES Engineering Services, Cubby Construction and Elland Structures. The Whitehaven Academy School has been procured by The Department for Education via its Construction Framework, further bolstering Wates’ already expansive education portfolio in the North West, with the firm also delivering Maghull High School and the Star Academies Eden schools in Blackburn and Manchester. Wates has enjoyed a 12-year relationship with the Department for Education, delivering 22 schools worth a total of £400m and benefitting 20,000 pupils. Dave Saville, business unit director for Wates Construction in the North West, said: “We’re looking forward to delivering another outstanding educational facility to the people of Whitehaven, after completing Campus Whitehaven last year. “After years of collaboration, we fully share the Department of Education and Cumbria Education Trust’s vision for what schools could and should be like – world-class educational spaces and facilities that inspire both pupils and teachers, promoting the learning process at every stage and futureproofed for the next generation. “As with any live school construction site, there will always be challenges when it comes to building close by to current school buildings. However, by making use our offsite facilities and with decades of experience in the education sector, we have the skillset and capability to minimise disruption to the school – which was crucial to us gaining a place on the framework.” Nick Polmear, operations director at Cumbria Education Trust, added: “It’s time to replace the Whitehaven school buildings, with a new, modern design that is fit-for-purpose, provides the best learning environment for students, and can be adapted to accommodate further expansion in time. “This is an important development to get right, which is why we made the decision to work with Wates, one of the most valued suppliers on our Construction Framework bringing years of experience and sector expertise to the table.” The project is the latest for Wates Construction in the North West, with the team currently delivering St. Helens Fire Station, Sands Leisure Centre in Carlisle, and a new leisure hub in Widnes.
A training hub aimed at providing opportunities for the unemployed, addressing Shropshire’s housing shortage, and boosting the county’s construction industry, has been given the go-ahead after a £650,000 Government grant was secured by a strong consortium of local businesses. Known as the Marches Construction Ready Partnership the group which includes The Wrekin Housing Trust, training provider Landau Ltd, Telford College, Beattie Passive and Hawk Safety & Training, aims to introduce around 400 skilled construction workers to the Marches area by training the long-term unemployed, students and people looking to make a career change into the construction industry. The initiative will see a construction manufacturing hub based in Telford, where learners will be taught key construction and offsite manufacturing skills needed. Learners will also receive the training necessary for the first stage construction processes for passive housing, which are advanced, low energy, draft-free buildings featuring high performance insulation to effectively eliminate heat loss. Most of the heating in these properties comes from sunlight, electrical appliances and even body heat meaning almost no heating systems are required. There will also be two mobile training hubs providing all training activities for learners on building sites across the Marches. Professionals from The Wrekin Housing Trust will oversee the supervision and management of trainees at both the on-site hubs and construction sites. Each learner will be assigned a construction worker ‘buddy’ to build confidence, ensure a supportive learning environment and reduce drop-out rates. Learners on the scheme could gain ongoing employment opportunities with The Wrekin Housing Trust and other local construction sector partners. Wayne Gethings, The Trust’s Managing Director, said: “This is a fantastic project on so many levels. It will provide training and jobs for those who have struggled to find work, which in turn means giving the construction industry access a much-needed workforce. “We are really pleased to have had the support of Telford and Wrekin Council during the bid stage of this project and we look forward to working with them and the other local authorities across the Marches area to deliver on the project by providing training opportunities and much needed affordable homes.” Sonia Roberts, CEO at Landau Ltd, said: “The hubs will provide high-quality on-site environment to engage with those who have previously struggled with traditional learning environments, taking them successfully through the ‘Work Ready’, ‘Site Ready’, ‘Skills Ready’ course modules. “The factory training hub will be equipped to focus upon learning skills used in construction- manufacturing of Passivhaus structural panels. The skill set taught is transferable within the construction industry and enables the learner to quickly master local industry-required manufacturing techniques.” Graham Guest, Principal and CEO at Telford College, said: “We provide opportunities for learning across a whole range of subjects everyday and we are really excited to be part of this project working with local employers to help provide the skills for individuals to enter the construction industry. At Telford College we will be working with learners on their employability skills during the work ready module, which will complement the hands-on skills that they will move on to.” Matt Bourne, General Manager at Safety and Training which is part of the Hawk Group, said: “We relish the opportunity to be working on this project with local partners to provide opportunities to get into such a rewarding industry. At Safety and Training we provide learning and support to many of the construction sector’s biggest players and during this project we will be helping to make the learners site ready.” Martin Rinvolucri at Passivhaus designers Beattie Passive said: “The Passivhaus structures will ensure that the homes built for affordable rent, will be of the highest quality and performance. The homes will be extremely comfortable and promote healthy living, have low maintenance costs over the long-term and up to 90% fuel reduction, helping to eradicate fuel poverty”. Gill Hamer, Director of the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership which supported the funding bid, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have supported this project throughout its development and worked with industry to bring much-needed on-site construction skills training to the region. “This scheme will help boost our economy, create employment opportunities and offer a new route into the construction industry for anyone wishing to develop their skills.” Funding for this project comes from the Construction Skills Fund which aims to create 20 training hubs around the country. The 18-month scheme is funded by the Department for Education administered by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).
