St Leonards Durham rebuild



MonkeyLove said:
Not sure if this one’s unique but I know a headteacher who’s school is being rebuilt and it’s really prescriptive.

There are basically set templates and they get to choose a few things almost like speccing a new build. Which all makes sense and is a sensible way to do it.

But what shocked me was that if you want anything at all bespoke the costs seem ludicrous compared to usual building costs. They wanted something like another door into the reception/office to separate children who are late in the morning from children coming for other enquiries and it was going to be about 10k.

They wanted a Senco room painted differently and it was going to be thousands.

It seems it might be a bit like the horror stories in the NHS where providers used to charge ridiculous costs for things like changing a lightbulb.

They had a couple of hundred k put aside but she said what it would get them was next to nothing.

Seems ludicrous.
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This is because the DfE sets the EIR's. Once you go off plan, you venture into design and build - the DfE won't pay for this as they've spent a fortune future proofing the latest batch of school designs that have been in operation since 2016
 
No7 said:
This is because the DfE sets the EIR's. Once you go off plan, you venture into design and build - the DfE won't pay for this as they've spent a fortune future proofing the latest batch of school designs that have been in operation since 2016
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They don't have generic designs (although they should), they're all D&B.
 
Billy Fish said:
They don't have generic designs (although they should), they're all D&B.
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None of the schools that BAM have built in the NE have been D&B mind, and they've done a fair few. All the designs are set through parameters via the DfE and Ryder's. Every single classroom design is the same, and as mentioned, if one particular school wants to go off plan, then this is the reason its costing a fortune
 
No7 said:
None of the schools that BAM have built in the NE have been D&B mind, and they've done a fair few. All the designs are set through parameters via the DfE and Ryder's. Every single classroom design is the same, and as mentioned, if one particular school wants to go off plan, then this is the reason its costing a fortune
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The DfE have an Output Spec for the framework which sets out the design parameters. Contractors have a D&B contract to design to those parameters but can make it bespoke as long as it complies. Some contractors, and I assume BAM are one, have standardised their own designs.

As I mentioned earlier it's something the DfE should do. They constantly bleat on about budgets not being enough but spend fortunes with schools being designed bespoke.
Get some generic designs done, design once build a hundred times. It worked well enough in the 60's & 70's with the CLASP schools.
 
Billy Fish said:
The DfE have an Output Spec for the framework which sets out the design parameters. Contractors have a D&B contract to design to those parameters but can make it bespoke as long as it complies. Some contractors, and I assume BAM are one, have standardised their own designs.

As I mentioned earlier it's something the DfE should do. They constantly bleat on about budgets not being enough but spend fortunes with schools being designed bespoke.
Get some generic designs done, design once build a hundred times. It worked well enough in the 60's & 70's with the CLASP schools.
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Don't disagree with you there. The issue now is a few of the Tier 1's got the school building buttoned right up in terms of design, but over the last 4/5 years, they've started subbing the M&E installs to others - practically started from scratch again as the subby 'didn't like the way it had been done previosuly' and started questioning the design on every job. It's crackers
 
No7 said:
This is because the DfE sets the EIR's. Once you go off plan, you venture into design and build - the DfE won't pay for this as they've spent a fortune future proofing the latest batch of school designs that have been in operation since 2016
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That’s fine but as I say she was told by her builders that it was going to be 10 grand just for an additional door into the reception/front office. That seems ludicrous
 

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