Re-thinking school building for the class of 2020

Symposium held at the RIBA on 13 July 2011

Our School Brick System overcomes the narrowing of the market implied by standardisation. Rather than focusing on limited construction materials or prescribed procurement approaches, our School Brick System exploits a much wider gene pool. It’s pret-a-porter design where it works best and the celebration of bespoke design where it’s possible and most desirable.

After a decade of unprecedented investment, the school building programme faces an uncertain future. A planned 60% reduction in school capital investment is forcing a re-think of how new schools are procured, designed and delivered. But with dwindling budgets and many schools still in desperate need of repair, how can we deliver good school buildings on a much tighter budget? What role will standardisation play? And how can we make the best of the buildings that already exist?

To begin to answer some of these questions, the RIBA brought together leading figures from construction, design, education and Government for a stimulating discussion into the future delivery and design of schools.

Alongside presentations from representatives of Government, SCABAL and other members of the RIBA Schools Client Forum, chaired by Sunand Prasad, presented a series of real-life scenarios designed to address some of the likely challenges ahead and work towards practical solutions for the future. These works are feeding into the RIBA response to emerging Government Policy.