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Case Studies Building Our Future: Scotland's School Estate
DESIGN BY COMMITTEE
Port Errol Primary School in rural Aberdeenshire was rebuilt using 3.8 million capital investment after the original school was burnt down. Security issues and the desire to create a community space with community ownership were critical in the re-design.
Opened in August 2003, the new school can accommodate 200 pupils and a 50-place nursery. In addition, the school has a room for children with additional support needs (including shower and washing facilities) and community areas such as meeting rooms, an ICT suite and a large gym that can be converted into an auditorium.
After the decision was made to rebuild the school on the original site, a committee was set up to ensure that the views of stakeholders were included in the school design process. The committee comprised:
- two parents representing the school's parent teacher organisation
- two members of the local community association
- two teaching staff
- the Head Teacher
- the architect.
Members of the group saw their role as facilitating the transfer of information between the architect and the parents, teachers and community groups:
"I think our role was to give feedback to the head teacher and to the architect, you know ideas would come back and we would have a look at them and say well 'we're not quite happy about that, we're not quite sure that's going to work'. And by and large most of the things that we felt needed tweaked got tweaked."
Information passed in two directions, with committee members reflecting the views of stakeholders and also passing back information on progress to keep the wider community informed:
"It was so that you could feed back to the community association what was going on so that the village people knew what was happening with the school."
Monthly meetings were well attended. Early on, the architect showed the group slides of other newly built schools that helped to open up the possibilities for their school. Later discussions focused on overall priorities for the school, layout of the facilities, design of classrooms and security.
Members of the group felt that their views were taken into account in the design of the school:
"What I definitely found refreshing was that the input that came from that committee was reflected in the design... we really were listened to."
Outcome
Creating a community space
The committee was firm from the outset that the new school would need to include community spaces. The new school includes a large gym (with showers, lockers and changing facilities), an auditorium for performances, meeting rooms and an IT suite, all of which are available to community groups out of school hours. Specific storage space was built into the design for community groups to use. Port Errol has placed the community rooms at the centre of the building, accessed through the main entrance and reception area. Currently the facilities are used predominantly by children and young people, including the Guides, football clubs and youth groups. As the local secondary school is some distance away, youth facilities for 12 to 15 year olds are provided at Port Errol.
Secured by design
The desire to open the school up to the community was coupled by a concern, to protect against vandalism. The compromise reached was that community groups would only be able to use the building out of school hours. Other security features, such as anti-climb paint, CCTV and lighting led the school to win a Grampian Police 'Secured by Design' award.
A one-stop shop
Another key priority was to create a school with all services under one roof. The previous school consisted of a split site with nursery and infant classes in one building and older primary children in another.
"That was a priority, to get all the school and the nursery under one roof rather than just replace what had gone."
In addition, the lack of a gym in the old school meant that children had to travel by bus to the village hall for gym and performances.
Taking on board these concerns, the design team included a large gym with changing and showering facilities. Built in to the gym is an electronic retractable seating system that transforms the gym into an auditorium for performances. The school now includes all education provision for children from pre-school to primary 7 on one site. 
Lessons
- involvement of parents and community groups is most successful where the consultation is not tokenistic
- when using representatives, as with the committee at Port Errol, individual members should be encouraged to consult with the stakeholder group they represent to ensure a two-way flow of information
- parents and community groups are holders of local information and can contribute valuable information to the school design process. Listening to potential users ensures that the space meets the needs of the local community.
Contact
Irene Tower
Head Teacher
Port Erroll School
Braehead Drive
Cruden Bay
PETERHEAD
AB42 0NP
Telephone: 01779 812622
Email: PortErrollsch@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
DESIGN OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS
This project considered the design of secondary schools in Glasgow including:
- adherence to an accommodation services brief
- location of the resource centre (library) as the central resource in the school
- clustering and the relationship of subject suites
- need for community access to be separately controlled.
Outcome
There was a general design requirement that external materials for new schools should be high specification and low maintenance. Refurbished schools should reduce future maintenance requirements through the use of durable materials.
Internal planning of buildings should allow for future flexibility. Natural light has been maximised where possible and pitched roofs have been used.
Lessons
Consultation with pupils and teachers identified the lack of a gathering area in inclement weather as a major shortcoming in existing schools. Using examples from schools in England and Scotland, a social space was created. This space varies according to local needs and can be a mall, atrium or square. It is the central focus of the school and the rest of the accommodation is laid out in clusters around it. It was designed to assist with general circulation and avoid congestion so pupils could move easily and quickly between classes at all times. It is a multi-use space and is part of the strategy to make big spaces work harder. The concept of clustering ensures that spaces with a common purpose are situated close to each other. This requires careful planning of spaces used for noisy and quiet activities.
All of these design requirements have been incorporated into a Design Manual that, subject to necessary revisions, will provide a framework for any future work. 
Contact
Eric O'Neill
Technical Officer
Education Services
Glasgow City Council
Nye Bevan House
North Entrance
20 India Street
GLASGOW
G2 4PF
Telephone: 0141 287 6766
Email: eric.o'neill@education.glasgow.gov.uk
DESIGNING A PRIMARY SCHOOL WITH CHILDREN AND PARENTS
Killearn Primary school underwent a refurbishment and large extension that was completed in August 2002 at a cost of 1.4 million. The school can now accommodate 210 primary pupils and a 40-place nursery.
Through the pupil council, children were consulted about specific rooms. It carried out a survey of pupils giving them options of different colour schemes for the new dining room. Pupils also expressed concerns about the toilets, which had low doors that older children could see over. Their solution was to measure the height of the tallest child in the school and inform the design team that the cubicle doors must be higher. The children also argued strongly for a separate dining room area and gym that would provide space for changing facilities, rather than changing in classrooms or toilets.
Children and parents worked together in the design of the outside areas, through a Grounds Group. The children spent a day in groups with volunteer parents exploring different aspects of the outside space; for example, one group completed a tree survey to identify what trees should be where. With parents, each child designed what they want to see in the playground. Each plan was fed back to the school, creating a large plan for the whole outside area. Parents are currently seeking funding for the playground, which will be built in accordance with the children's designs: these include picnic tables, a quiet area, a secure pond area and a herb garden.
Outcome
As Killearn Primary has been designed with a high level of involvement by the children it is exceptionally child friendly, with bright colours throughout. The toilets have automatic air-fresheners, large bins, colourful walls, mirrors and high doors on the toilet cubicles. As a result the children report less graffiti and vandalism in the toilets. Similarly the children successfully argued their case for a separate dining room and gym.
The nurturing of rights and responsibilities through the school design process has reinforced the school's values of honesty, fairness, respect and responsibility. The Head Teacher describes one of the outcomes as an increase in ownership of the school:
"They do feel that it's their school and they are very proud of it."
The views of the children are echoed in the School Handbook, which included poems about the new school. One P5 pupil summed up his views:
"I like the new carpets
I like the new hall
I like the new playground
I like it all."
Lessons
- as evidenced by the height of the toilet doors, children can come up with innovative solutions to design problems
- parental involvement in school design, such as outside areas, has increased their involvement in seeking future funding
- involving children in their built environment encourages them to take responsibility, keep areas clean and tidy, and reduces vandalism
- a high level of consultation takes time. The process of refurbishment and extension took around 5 years in total.
Contact
Joanne Scott
Head Teacher
Killearn Primary School
Crosshead Road
KILLEARN
G63 9RN
Telephone: 01360 550 430
Email: killearnps@stirling.gov.uk
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