Britain's school building estate: evaluation by life cycle for effective maintenance, with an illustrated study on Glasgow schools

By the early 1980s it was becoming apparent that Britain's maintained school building estate was deteriorating. This view was confirmed in a 1984 HMI Report which inferred that the problem arose from the failure of local education authorities to provide the required financial resources. This study reviews the composition and governance of Britain's school building estate to determine the relevant factors, amongst which are the dramatic increase in floor area after 1946, reduction in quality (durability) of construction and constraints on local government finances. The City of Glasgow's school building stock accounts for some 1.65% of Britain's school building accommodation and was used for model purposes to value the changes. As part of the exercise the City of Glasgow's building stock was examined in detail. The composition of the stock in school session 1985/86, the management of property maintenance, and maintenance expenditure records form part of this review. The first complete photographic survey of the City's primary and secondary schools is included as is a maintenance expenditure study based on 10% of the floor area. What emerged was that Glasgow schools in common with the national position are not being maintained in a planned manner. The economic evaluation of school building construction, using depreciation techniques identifies that post second war buildings lose most of their economic value over the first 30 years. This, if combined with deferred maintenance and limited pupil numbers requires selective maintenance management. The thesis contends that the maintenance of the school building estate should be managed using an information technology based system which evaluates its economic worth. The study offers a design for such a system. Using the acronym of `SEMMS' (School building Evaluation Maintenance Management System) this form is ideally suited for interfacing the individual schools maintenance with the overall responsibility of the local authority to provide adequate accommodation.