School buildings have long occupied an important cultural and usually very visible place in cities, towns and villages. The growth in provision of education in the 18th and 19th centuries meant that school buildings provided an additional focal point for large parts of society. The evolution of school boards and local authorities during the late 19th century ensured that schools became very much part of the local landscape.

Today, schools continue to form a significant part of the local community. The shared experience they represent can be a powerful source of community identity and cohesion. They are often an integral part of local identity and character in villages, towns and cities. Furthermore, in addition to their primary role as an educational venue, they can often act as a social hub for communities through other uses such as life-long learning or sports activities. For these reasons it is imperative that in order to achieve the wider aims of the new coalition Government, the renovation of the local school is recognised as also being vital in rebuilding and regenerating communities thus creating the ‘Big Society’.

Board schools and the 1870 Education Act

Victorian and Edwardian schools provide good working environments, are often robust and can be readily adapted to new uses. Challenges often include constricted sites, load bearing internal walls, requirements for improved access and fabric improvement, and potential constraints in some schools if listed or in a conservation area.

The Board Schools have many common features: most are simple buildings in brick or stone, with large windows and rows of gables. The designs combined economy with a concern for good light that produced high roofs and large gables, and a sense of civic pride reflected in the high quality of architectural detailing and grand entrances. A common feature also found included segregated boys and girls classrooms with separate entrances and staircases, arranged around a central hall space. Some schools also included innovative features such as rooftop play areas as found in Catherine Street School, Hackney.

What is fascinating is that some of the most so-called radical educational models are actually not new at all. Project based learning spaces where students stay in the same home base, but move between instruction spaces and project spaces can actually be found in London Board Schools. These spaces are very suited to providing schools within schools and work very well with a minimum of structural intervention.

Hygiene, open-air schools and the 1926 Haddow Report

Inter-war schools also provide good working environments, but will require extensive updating. These schools saw the introduction of steel frames that will require remedial work whilst many still relied upon load bearing partitions which may constrain some deeper remodelling. The main issue with these schools is often the legacy of 50 years of piecemeal improvement and extension across their sites.

This period saw a number of innovations such as the open air movement, which began in Germany at the turn of the century and soon spread to the UK, where the benefits of fresh air and natural light were claimed to improve health, behaviour and learning. The 1926 Haddow Report proposed the building of ‘secondary elementary’ or ‘modern’ schools to offer a more general education that complemented the more academic grammar schools. These new modern schools, sited on the edge of towns with extensive playing fields and new facilities such as gymnasia and science laboratories, found favour with the international design style emerging from Europe. The grammar schools however, tended to favour a neo-Georgian style.

Post-war prefabrication and system building

Standardised prefabricated components were recommended by the Ministry of Education in 1943 to respond to the need to rebuild the one in five schools destroyed during the war. Initially the demand was for primary schools to satisfy the post-war baby boom. As this bulge worked through the system the need to rebuild secondary schools peaked in the 50s and 60s.  In response to the demand to build schools quickly with limited resources, education authorities joined together to form CLASP (Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme) which created a systemised school building comprising a lightweight steel frame system clad with variations of timber, tile hanging, curtain-walling and concrete panels.

Systems schools from the 1950s to 1970s represent some of the biggest challenges with respect to building condition and fitness for purpose, but nevertheless provide good opportunities to deliver flexible space by reusing existing structures. Almost all the elements of the external fabric and mechanical and electrical systems are likely to need replacement in order to meet the current building regulations and the environmental and acoustic standards set out in current DfE Building Bulletins.