Education

Grainge Architects have worked within most sectors of education (children's nurseries including Sure Start, extensions to primary schools, new combined schools, a new 'through-school' on the Isles of Scilly, further education college projects, university facilities, student housing), producing a wide variety of buildings - classrooms, laboratories, performing arts studios, admin facilities, refectories, sports facilities, specialist teaching areas (eg kitchens, building trades, motor-vehicle repairs, ICT), play areas and others.

While the learning environment is without doubt secondary to teaching excellence in successfully educating young (or old!) people, it is undeniable that a good, vibrant, light, robust, well-planned and congenial environment is hugely helpful. Our aim, at whatever level of education our buildings are to serve, is to provide the best that can be afforded, and nearly always this is achieved through in-depth briefing and understanding leading to well-targeted spending rather than 'cheap' building; in our experience every school/college is different, and economy is achieved through intelligently targeted solutions rather than 'one size fits all' systems.

This same principle applies whether we are employed directly by the educational establishment or as part of a PFI or Design-and-Build contractor delivery team (we have considerable experience in both approaches). A strong belief in the value of direct and thorough briefing with the educational professionals, backed up by good working understanding of technical requirements (Building Bulletins and other statutory regulations) has produced many successful projects.

With the demise of the Government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, and the earlier termination of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) the building of entire new schools and major further education capital projects will probably be a rarity in the foreseeable future. However, at some level schools, colleges and universities are continuing to be developed, whether through agencies such as Partnership for Schools (PfS) for academies, Local Education Partnership, the Young People's Learning Agency, Skills Funding Agency, or simply by using locally raised or existing capital funds, and we are pleased to be actively engaged in this sector.