There have been significant impacts to the Education Sector in the UK over the past decade. Particularly since the credit crunch of late 2008 halted the then Labour Governments Building Schools for the Future (BSF) development programme, and slashed central government spending on schools for nearly a decade.

From the ashes of the BSF programme we have seen the emergence of Academies and Free-Schools in the primary and secondary school sector, and a significant increase in Further Education College demand as the cost of attending University tripled, leaving many middle to lower income families unable to afford the fees.

These impacts have meant the way we design, procure and deliver education facilities in the UK has had to change.

Smaller budgets have meant creative solutions to common problems needed to be found. Smaller facilities require better more efficient timetabling, conversions or transformation of existing spaces and new extensions to existing facilities in-leiu of brand new facilities. Where new-build is a necessity, due to buildings simply reaching their life expectancy, cross funding of land sold off for residential development has seen a big increase recently.

As development managers and project managers with extensive experience delivering education facilities, we understand the challenges and pit-falls of funding and building 21st Century facilities. This means establishing efficient effective design and procurement strategies and spending the money where it most benefits the educational needs of the facility staff and students in what is a cyclical and highly competitive environment focused on attracting the best academics and funding allowing the development of state of the art facilities which in turn attracts more students both from home and increasingly importantly, from overseas.