The worrying condition of many school buildings

Around 700,000 children in England are studying in schools that require major rebuilding or repair work, a new National Audit Office report on the condition of school buildings has revealed

The National Audit Office, the UK’s independent public spending watchdog, has released a report into the condition of school buildings and found that more than a third (24,000) of English school buildings are past their estimated initial design life. These buildings can normally continue to be used, but are generally more expensive to maintain and, on average, have poorer energy efficiency leading to higher running costs.

Under funding

The report highlights that in recent years, there has been a significant funding shortfall contributing to deterioration across the school estate. The DfE has reported £7 billion a year as the best practice level of capital funding to maintain, repair and rebuild the school estate. In 2020, it recommended funding of £5.3 billion a year to maintain schools and mitigate the most serious risks of building failure after expanding its school rebuilding programme over the next few years. DfE was subsequently allocated an average £3.1 billion a year of relevant funding from HM Treasury. This includes funding to re-build 500 schools over a ten-year programme, on which DfE is making slower than initially expected progress awarding contracts. Between 2016 and 2022, DfE spent an average £2.3 billion a year.

As a result, there is a significant gap between the funding available and that which DfE assesses it needs for school buildings to be safe and in a good condition for those who learn and work there. Funding is also often used for urgent repairs rather than planned maintenance E

F which, as DfE itself acknowledges, risks not offering good long-term value for money.

Risk of collapse

The report says the DfE has assessed the possibility of a building collapse or failure causing death or injury as a ‘critical and very likely’ risk since summer 2021. This would mean the collapse of one or more buildings, causing serious harm alongside public concern about the safety of schools, and widespread school closures or pupils being withdrawn. DfE considers that insufficient capital funding to address structural issues, and the condition of some buildings at the end of their initial design life, contribute to the severity of the risk.

Unsafe materials

The report highlighted ongoing concerns with the use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) – a lightweight form of concrete prone to failure, used between the 1950s and mid-1990s. DfE has been considering the potential risk posed by RAAC since late 2018, following a school roof collapse.

The research shows that the DfE continues to build its understanding of where RAAC is used, including by collating questionnaire responses from schools, but does not currently have the information required to fully manage potential risks. At May 2023, 6,300 (42 per cent) of the schools on which DfE has chosen to focus had completed work to establish if it was present. At that point, through questionnaire responses and wider work, DfE identified RAAC may be present in 572 schools. DfE has allocated £6 million for specialists to investigate 600 schools potentially affected by RAAC. By May 2023, 196 investigations had been conducted, with RAAC confirmed in 65 schools. In May 2023, DfE announced that, where RAAC is present in schools, it would provide funding to ensure that it does not pose an immediate risk. E

F The NAO recommends that the DfE determines by when, and through what means, it plans to have fully dealt with RAAC as a safety issue across the school estate so that it is no longer a critical risk.

More positively, the report found that DfE had collected better evidence on the condition of the whole estate. This included identifying 13,800 system-built blocks – almost all containing asbestos. However, of these around 3,600 may be more susceptible to deterioration. In September 2022, DfE approved plans for a structural assessment of 200 system-built blocks to help better understand the risks – but none had been conducted as the report went to publication.

The issues must be addressed

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “At present, 700,000 pupils are learning in schools requiring major rebuilding or refurbishment. DfE has, since 2021, assessed the risk of school building failure or collapse as critical and very likely, but it has not been able to reduce this risk. More widely, it has an ambitious strategy for decarbonising the education estate but no plan for how it will achieve this or how much it is likely to cost.

“DfE is gathering some of the data it needs to effectively target its resources. It must now use this to improve its understanding of where schools are most at risk so it can balance addressing the most urgent risks while investing enough in maintenance, reducing carbon emissions, and climate change adaptation measures to achieve its objectives and secure longer-term value for money.”

Responding to the NAO report, RIBA president Simon Allford said: “It is a huge concern that 700,000 pupils are being taught in buildings that require major rebuilding or refurbishment, a clear failure of the government, who have simply not put enough money in the pot to address the scale of the problem.

“Our young people deserve educational spaces that facilitate learning and promote healthy living. We must use this opportunity to ensure all schools are well-designed, energy efficient and fit for children both today and in the future.”

Sustainability

The deteriorating condition of the school estate also presents challenges for DfE’s sustainability ambitions, a separate report by the NAO has revealed. This report sets out how schools have focused funding on improving school building conditions with sustainability integrated where possible. But its efforts are hampered by its lack of a clear, national picture of sustainability in schools or the risk that climate change poses. L

The topic of sustainability will be discussed in the following feature, on page 27.

Read the NAO report here