Pre-designed new schools tackle school place shortage

Pre-designed new schools are to be used in an effort to solve the shortage of school places in England.

According to the official forecast from the Department for Education, an extra 750,000 school places in England will be needed by 2020. It estimates that between 2016 and 2025, the state school system will see the number of pupils increase from 7.1 million to 8.1 million – an increase of ten per cent.

Sunesis is a joint venture between contractor Wilmott Dixon and public sector organisation, Scape Group and is working to solve the issue through the use of pre-designed new schools.

The designs are standardised but can also be altered and personalised to meet the demands of the client.

Sunesis schools can be delivered through the OJEU-compliant Scape framework, negating a prolonged and expensive tender process, or they can be delivered through the client’s own procurement route.

Tim Carey, Product Director for Sunesis, said that the organisation is already establishing itself as a viable option to build new schools and extra classrooms.

He commented: “Pupil numbers continue to grow, and demand won’t slow down due to Brexit, so schools need to be 100% confident that if they are due to accommodate a greater number of pupils this need is met in the timescales required.

“The recent report from the Department for Education projects that the next big increase in pupil numbers will be in secondary schools, which currently cater for 2.76m pupils but will need to be able to accommodate up to 3.04 million in 2020 and then 3.33 millon in 2025. This means within the next decade secondary schools will have to create an extra 570,000 places countrywide.

“We can, and are, making a tangible impact on these projections with Sunesis. We’re using technology that is innovative and forward thinking, but at the same time providing inspirational teaching and learning environments for current and future generations, which are guaranteed to be delivered on time and on budget.

“The report is concerning and will have raised alarm bells for many leaders in the education sector. However, Sunesis can help to narrow the gap between pupil numbers and school spaces and we will continue to support the Department for Education in tackling the problem with our flexible, creative and time efficient builds.”

 

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