The government's Department for Education is planning an industry meeting to discuss its plans for a £2bn offsite schools framework. The Department for Education (DfE) plans to set up a four-year framework for the delivery of schools by design for manufacture and assembly and/or offsite methods. It will follow on from the DfE's existing component school frameworks and supplement the existing DfE construction framework.

The DfE anticipates, subject to consultation, that any new framework will be larger than the previous frameworks with a target to deliver up to a 100 new school projects a year by 2023. It will be based on a greater degree of standardisation and focused on a manufactured offsite solution, to improve quality and efficiency to deliver programme and value savings. It will also be open to a greater number of suppliers and different methods of offsite construction, including modular and portable buildings, kit buildings and prefabricated components.

In preparation for this procurement the DfE is developing the GEN 5 solution pack as the latest iteration of its standardised design solution for schools. At its heart will be a BIM model that includes a3D design and specification that will demonstrate how to achieve the output specification requirements with a highly componentised solution of standard components suitable for efficient manufacture. GEN 5 is a development of primary school design concepts but the intention is that the principles will be developed and applied to secondary schools and other school types.

By adopting this approach the DfE is providing the market with a solution pack from which a true offsite solution which is high quality and efficient to produce can be developed," the DfE says.

Image: Modular classrooms at Castleview School in Slough, supplied by Wernick

Original link - TheConstruction Index

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