We’re still slightly reeling from the speech given by Steve Chalke tonight at the BCSE Industry Awards.
"If you're only in this business to put up buildings, you're in the wrong business."
We knew he was worth hearing – we wouldn’t have asked him to speak otherwise – but if we’d anticipated just how powerful his message was going to be … well, you’d be watching a YouTube of it instead of getting a few remembered quotes from me.
It was a tour de force that resulted in ‘our host for the evening – Kim Catcheside – grabbing the microphone and giving us a very good rendition of ‘Sweet Chariot’!
Drawing on his experience growing up in South London before founding the Oasis Trust, Steve made the point that teachers often say ‘have a good weekend’ to some of the kids they work with in the knowledge that the weekend isn’t as good or inspiring as the time that they spend in a school that is designed and managed by committed people.
He quoted Martin Luther King saying “you only know you’re truly alive when you know what you’re prepared to die for” – while picking a bone with the great man for his use of the word ‘dream’ where ‘vision’ would be a better alternative.
There’s more, and we’ll have to see if we can get Steve to reprise his performance in front of a camera some time.
And so to the awards. They are now in their third year, and they’re here to identify and reward excellence in the UK school design and construction sector. What stood out this evening was the quality of submissions across 15 categories, demonstrating the innovation and outstanding work being delivered across the public and private sector.
The judges have chosen a range of projects, individuals and teams to recognise their contribution to school design in the last year. In particular, the Big School Makeover Award for the Best Remodelled School had some fantastic projects and will be an area of great interest in the coming years.
The entries this year are a welcome opportunity to celebrate the best of Britain’s schools. In an ‘age of austerity’ the temptation may be to retreat into our shells, but this year, more than any other, we need to celebrate the world leading work of our schools, local authorities, architects, contractors, suppliers and organisations across the sector.
The strong shortlist and exciting list of winners shown in this booklet show that we have much to be proud of.
We hope that you will find these awards inspiring and both in the diversity of projects it contains and in the level of thinking that has gone into each school. We know that there are many more examples of great practice across the UK and we look forward to an even larger entry next year.
Our thanks go to the panels who judged this year’s awards and in particular to Gareth Long who chaired the entire process. We also thank our sponsors without whom the Awards would not be possible.
Inspiring Design: Schools
Clapham Manor Primary School
Forest Way School
The Pears National Centre for Autism Education
Inspiring Design: Academy
The City Academy
School Contractor of the Year
Willmott Dixon
School Architect of the Year – The Jonathan Ibikunle Award
Studio E Architects
Local Authority of the Year
Manchester City Council
Furniture, Fittings and Equipment (FF+ E) Supplier of the Year
ISIS
Sustainable School of the Year
St Luke’s CE Primary School
Best School Extension, Refurbishment or Remodel – The Big School Makeover Award
Coleridge Primary School
Best School Extension, Refurbishment or Remodel – The Big School Makeover Award
Elm Court School
Best Use of Learning Technology
RM
Best Outdoor Learning Environment
Park Campus PRU
Best Sport and Play Environment
Kirkby Sports College for Learning
Best Healthy Learning Environment
Acland Burghley School
Innovation in Student Engagement – The School Works Award
Essex County Council
Inspirational School Leader
Vonn Smith, John Perryn School
Judges Award
Clapham Manor School and dRMM Architects
Fellowship of the British Council for School Environments
Paul Morrell, OBE
We’ll be returning to a lot of these winners – along with a few of the ‘highly commended’ runners up over the coming weeks and months – please stay tuned!
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