For many people, their memories of their school years consist of small claustrophobic classrooms and narrow drafty corridors. But with ever-increasing class sizes, those classrooms are unfit for purpose. Educational buildings and facilities must catch up with the times.
Today, schools and universities need to take a sustainable approach and create an environment where teachers can cultivate a positive and progressive culture. When schools and universities can incorporate environmental education and community engagement, the community members feel inspired, which creates a culture of continuous learning and development. This prepares pupils for the future, accommodating more space and enhancing the overall learning experience.
How can restoring schools in the UK help to inspire the next generation?
Accommodating growing numbers of pupils
Over the next decade, it’s estimated that more than 400,000 additional pupils will be in state secondary schools. Many of these extra pupils are already working their way through the primary school system. If schools are already pushed beyond their capacity, the buildings must work even harder to keep up as best they can. Restoring schools means that they must find ways to innovate on the limited budgets they have to maximise every corner of the space available. This may mean commissioning entirely new builds or working with a restoration company to create areas that offer more space and provide engaging settings in which people can learn. Temporary buildings, which are often set up, are not adequate for long term usage as they are not designed to be used as additional facilities.
Embracing the environment within the school building
Building a better future for the next generation goes beyond simply reinventing spaces in innovative ways. The built environment itself needs to be and engaging place to learn within. Universities take to building new and impressive facilities in the hopes of moving up the satisfaction tables, but unless these facilities are properly maintiained and looked after, it will not take long before they go sliding down the tables again. The same goes for schools. The correct precautions taken can ensure that any building, no matter how old, can boost student and teacher morale, so long as the original estate design is a good one.
Improved educational facilities can inspire career choices
The exterior of a school building combined with its facilities can play a key role in sparking the imaginations of school pupils and encouraging them to take pride in their environment. Good and well maintained facilities can ignite a beneficial and sociable environment as well as help pupils nurture their social confidence, physical health, teamwork and self-improvement.
For a greener and more sustainable future, and cities capable of housing the population, which is only going to get larger and larger, we must think about making the most of what we’ve already got.
At Building Transformation we provide complete lifecycle solutions to inspect, test, repair, replace, access, or refurbish your property portfolio and meet your building management requirements. Speak to a member of our team today to arrange a condition survey, leak investigation, or repair solution that meet the needs of the UK’s educational facilities and buildings.
