John Lyall on the future of building schools

John Lyall was interviewed by Local Government News at BSEC,  and discussed the future of building schools in the UK:

John Lyall:

“Its a myth that good design costs too much money – it doesnt.”

“BSF was overweighed with bureaucracy – thats where the money has gone – Mr Gove – not on Architects Fees! “

“Its not all bad news. People are talking about prefabricated schools – handled right thats not a bad thing, and certainly starting to work for some primary schools… Whether that will work for more complex schools such as secondary schools i don’t know… the architects, contractors, and teachers and school heads will increasingly demand better design. “

“CABE 10 point design criteria has also helped improve design quality…”

“BSF brought architects and contractors together, and we mustn’t lose that…”

“architects must do more research with contractors – what makes good design and what makes good value – not just cutting costs by cutting area…  and we don’t want to go back to the mistakes of the past…”

Click here to see more Local Government News videos from BSEC

 

John Lyall Architects are a founding practice in the consortium Architects4Education – consisting of three award winning practices who have come together to work collaboratively in the field of education design.

Click here to find out more about Architects4Education.

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Architects4Education at BSEC 2011!

So, that was day 1 at BSEC!

A really interesting day at the Building Schools Exhibition and Conference – meeting a really wide variety of different people on the Architects4Education stand.

It was noticeably quieter than last year – with far fewer LEAs present in particular, unsurprisingly given budget cutbacks. There were still a wide range of debates and discussions taking place though, both on the various stands and on the plenary stage in the centre of the hall, in addition to the conference itself.  And we were still kept really busy with a continual flow of people coming to speak to us about what makes Architects4Education special.

Architects4Education - stand 618!

A4E were well represented in an open discussion on the plenary stage – discussing:

How to move on without the support of organisations like BECTA and CABE
How can we make sure that we build new or refurbish educational spaces to high standards and lower cost, without the support of key organisations which may no longer exist?

John Lyall and John Jenner - both of Architects4Education and long standing CABE commissioners were joined by Stefan Jakobek, vice president, head of education, HOK and Rachel Jones, head of education, Steljes to discuss the issues of design quality in this very different climate that we find ourselves in.

John L and John J speaking about where to get advice post becta & post CABE

Lyall and Jenner both brought to the discussion their many years sitting on the various national panels of CABE – the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, highlighting many instances where design quality had been improved (or in some cases protected). Jenner pointed out that the most treasured parts of our built environment came from a time long before CABE – citing St Pauls and St Pancras as examples. He asked “what has gone wrong in the system when it takes a body like CABE to ensure that our public spaces are designed to be the best that they can be? To provide uplifting and inspiring experiences for all users?” He made a strong case that it should be the duty of those procuring the buildings to demand high quality, rather than settle for second best, or worse, for purely commercial reasons. With CABEs future now secure John Lyall was pleased that the years of work – not to mention stacks of research and case studies – would continue to be available to clients and design teams as a valuable resource.

Although CABE is still with us, good design is by no means a surity in the field of education: budgets are facing big squeezes. Stefan said that an organisation such as CABE really should be shouting from the rooftops that design quality must be protected, otherwise the future looks somewhat bleak for future school buildings. He questioned though whether this was possible given that the (now saved) organisation is so closely tied to government, who would not necessarily appreciate such comments!

The changing education landscape was high on most peoples agendas, and most visitors to the A4E stand raised it as an issue. Perhaps Free Schools would be the answer, maybe without architect involvement?
Free School advocate Toby Young  spoke about his experience of trying to get their Free School off the ground in a really well attended event. Having read a lot about his efforts in the press it was really interesting to hear him admit that the process has been really difficult and still faces a big uphill battle.

Many people were simply asking what happens next, and the answer for many people seemed to be ‘wait and see’. With the James Review due out very soon perhaps it will become a little clearer…? But then again, perhaps not…!

It is certainly interesting times, and our schools workload at A4E is still really busy. One wonders when things do become clearer whether it will really take off – we all know many examples of schools which really desperately need to be replaced/refurbished/renovated in some form. Whatever happens we feel positive – Architects4Education is a nimble and flexible consortium of award winning practices and we’re confident that we can act fast and intelligently to tackle whatever challenges the new road ahead throws up!

So, after a great first day, we’re looking forward to day two!

Pop along to see us on stand 618 and let us know what you think the future holds!

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Architects4Education at Building Schools Exhibition and Conference 2011

Architects4Education will be exhibiting at the forthcoming BSEC 2011 – the Building Schools Exhibition and Conference – at London’s Excel Centre, 23-24th February 2011.

Arguably the UKs premier education construction event, BSEC is a great platform for discussing the future of school buildings – whether new build, renovation or extension. The exhibition is free to attend – see http://www.buildingschools.co.uk/ for more details.

Pop along to see us at stand 618 and one of our specialist architects will be happy to discuss our unique and collaborative approach to school design!

Head to http://architects4education.co.uk/ to read more about how we work and to see more of our projects.

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John Lyall to speak at next years BSEC conference

How to move on without the support of organisations like BECTA and CABE

John Lyall will be speaking on day one of the upcoming BSEC conference:

How can we make sure that we build new or refurbish educational spaces to high standards and lower cost, without the support of key organisations which may no longer exist? Practical tips and suggestions will be discussed.

The Conference runs from 23-24th February 2011, at Londons Excel exhibition centre. For more details of the day one lineup click here.

John will be joined by John Jenner of Greenhill Jenner Architects – fellow practice in our education-specific consortium Architects4Education

We exhibited at last years BSEC, and found it a great way to meet new people in education, and discuss how Architects4Education work collaboratively to design great education buildings. Looking forward to February!

 

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Design fit for Education

“These are exciting times for independent schools and improved facilities are the perfect way to attract new pupils and parents”

An A4E advertorial piece in the Autumn/Winter 2010 edition of Schoolhouse Magazine:

Click here to view this article as a pdf.

See http:// http://www.architects4education.co.uk/ for more details about how we work, or click here to see the latest A4E brochure.

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Architects4Education at the Remodelling Education Conference

This weeks Remodelling Education Conference and exhibition was a great success, especially if you consider that this was the first year the organisers have run this format. The atmosphere was very positive, despite the current uncertainties over funding for schools projects, with a lot of talk about new opportunities. The Architects4Education stand was very busy and we talked to a lot of people interested in our track record and collaborative working. The conference was also a good platform for us to show our ability to create high quality learning environments through remodelling and refurbishment as well as new buildings.

A particularly relevant project to the theme of remodelling was Northbury School, designed by Greenhill Jenner.  In July this year the project was “Highly Commended” by the British Council for School Environments in the category of Best School Extension, Refurbishment or Remodel, and also won a 2010 RIBA award.

A Case Study in Remodelling: Northbury School

Click here to open a pdf version of the case study.

See http:// http://www.architects4education.co.uk/ for more details about how we work, or click here to see the latest A4E brochure.

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Architects4Education new brochure

Architects4Education (an education-specific consortium of award winning architects) is pleased to announce our new brochure:

Click here to open the brochure as a PDF

Architects4Education comprises of John Lyall Architects, Greenhill Jenner, Sarah Wigglesworth Architects and Dr Chris French. Projects are designed in collaboration and with peer review, meaning that design quality is kept consistently high. Top level management maintain a close involvement through all stages of the project, and together we offer the resources of a larger company, but with the flexibility and approachability of a smaller practice.

For more information on what we do and our projects please see the consortium website: www.architects4education.co.uk

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Refurbishment in Education Conference

John Lyall Architects attended a thought provoking conference last week which looked at all aspects of refurbishment in education buildings – from heritage issues to sustainability, FF&E and ‘Free Schools’.

Elm Park School, Lambeth

The conference took place at Elm Park School in South London – itself extensively refurbished under wave 1 of the BSF programme by the conference organisers – Apollo Education.

Sir David Bell, chairman of the Transformation Trust opened the conference : “Giving kids confidence that they can achieve is crucial, and good education environments really help this “

Malcolm Woods from English Heritage then talked about working with historic buildings: ”in refurbishment sensitivity to historic buildings important, but quality of education is the priority“

“Ideally listed buildings should be always have the same use that they were originally built for”

Malcolm Woods from English Heritage

“The UK has only 5000 listed buildings – which is not many – so they need care; understanding the building is critical” There are also clearly many buildings which are not listed but which are really important to preserve.

Marcel Hendricks, Apollo Education: “transformation now a dirty word, but important- don’t just refurbish a poor performing space with a lick of paint“

David Hurrocks – senior contracts manager at Apollo – talked about the practicality of building/refurbishment/phasing while school open

David Hurrocks - Apollo Education

There was then a really energetic talk by Marcus Orlovsky, of consultants Bryanston Square… he began by showing a photograph of a pretty uninspiring teaching space “if that is your idea of refurb, go boil your own head!” and then going on to say:

“ too often the goal of ‘improving what’s there’ prevents the creation of truly special learning environments “

He asked are we sleepwalking in our current provision for schools? With various statistics he showed how the world is changing radically, and questioned whether the careers that many UK pupils are heading towards may not actually exist in the UK in 25 years…

He talked about how schools should tackle Furniture, Fixtures, and Equipment early: “FF&E  doesn’t have to be costly if it is tackled with imagination” – running through ways you can engage pupils without spending loads of money on construction work  - FF&E can be bespoke & innovative…

Aaron Taylor talked us through Apollo Education’s field trip to Scandinavia, and showed several slides showing the progressive design of the Danish and Swedish schools. This was particularly interesting given the current move towards ‘free schools’ and the possibility of converting existing non-school buildings for use as schools. Examples included the new Orestad-Gymnasium school in Copenhagen.

There was a talk on sustainability in schools from Martin Cook of the BRE, and Steve Wisby of mechanical engineers Hoare Lee, followed by a discussion of community involvement and social responsibility.

The day ended with a tour of the school – itself an award winning example of school refurbishment – with construction work by Apollo Education. A PDF case study of the building can be found here.

This was a great conference, and it was particularly interesting to discuss some of the issues which we face in our school design work; there were many parallels with Northbury School which was designed as part of our schools-specific consortium Architects4Education

Northbury School, designed by Architects4Education

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