8 Top Tips for a Successful School Refurbishment
1. Planning and organising
A lot of planning is required in order to conduct a successful school refurbishment, as children are at school for the majority of the year. The best times to conduct the refurbishment would be during the holidays, Christmas, Easter and summer. These times are best for smaller projects and also medium sized projects.
Basic principles
The basic principle of any building is to consider the actual, physical construction of the building. This includes insulation. The insulation is incredibly important, especially in a school, as buildings can get incredibly cold in the winter in England. The role of insulation is also to keep heat out during summer. These factors will play a crucial role in the comfort of students and teachers within the school. This will in turn increase productivity and moral.
Consider space
Space must be considered when completing a school refurbishment. This is very important for schools, as students need space to learn. A typical classroom can consist of around 20-30 students, and each student will need at least a chair and a desk or table. So, in order to create a successful school refurbishment, making the most out of space will be one of the most important considerations.
Outdoor space also must be considered. This is due to the fact that most schools have a playground for children to play in. Most schools will also have at least a couple hundred students in them, and these students will all have lunchtime at the same time, and so will use the playground at the same time.
Comfort
A school needs to be a comfortable place for all parties. Most students will be at school around 8 hours, and so need to be comfortable. Floorspace is a big consideration when refurbishing a school. Children need space to comfortably learn and having a large enough classroom with enough floorspace is key to this. The whole purpose of a building is to provide comfort and safety to its occupants. Therefore, the comfort of its occupants needs to be one of the main considerations when carrying out refurbishments. Things such as air conditioning, temperature, and natural lighting must all be considerations.
Consider its location
Location is a very important consideration when conducting the refurbishment of a school. The amount of outdoor space in the school’s location can determine the size of a school, the amount of playground space, and also if any residential areas etc are nearby. Also, if there is a forest or lake nearby, then these can be utilised within the refurbishment of the school.
Reducing waste production
The construction industry is responsible for most of the waste produced in this country, which is a staggering 40% of total waste production. This is argued to be because of the population growth that most cities are experiencing, as well as the large increase in construction from the 1960s. We can combat this by ensuring that most, if not all, waste is sent to recycling facilities, and also using more recycled materials.
Responsibility
At the very early stages of the project, responsibility needs to be assessed and given to whoever needs to take responsibility. It is important that the school is kept informed every step of the process. The school needs to have a clear understanding of the design and contract programme and also needs to know what is going to happen every step of the way of the school refurbishment. The school official also needs to know about health and safety and contractual regulations regarding the build.
Health and safety
Both the school and the construction contractor have a responsibility to ensure that risk assessments and method statements are consistently monitored. For example, fire exits, and all fire systems need to be agreed upon by all parties. It is also important that these exits, and site boundaries are clearly marked, and signage is amended as appropriate.
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