school buildings | Schools Week

Fire chiefs to challenge government over ‘backward step’ of sprinklers plans

Fire chiefs are set to challenge a government consultation on sprinklers in classrooms, claiming the proposals are “taking the standards of fire safety in schools backwards”. A long-awaited consultation to the Fire Safety Design for Schools bulletin was launched last month. The non-statutory guidance proposes that automatic fire suppression systems – such as sprinklers – […]

Repairing England’s schools will cost £11.4 billion, DfE admits

Repairing or replacing all defects in England’s schools will cost £11.4 billion, the Department for Education has admitted. It is almost double a previous estimate for bringing the state up to satisfactory condition. The government has finally published key findings from its condition data collection, which ran between 2017 and 2019 in 22,031 schools. It […]

£1bn for school rebuilding projects in 2021, but details on new 10-year plan scarce

A new school rebuilding programme will see 50 projects split £1 billion in funding next year, the government has announced. The funding, for projects due to start from September 2021, will form part of a “ten-year school rebuilding programme”. However further information about the level of funding for the scheme will not be confirmed until […]