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INTRODUCTION
This demonstration Post Occupancy Evaluation ( POE) study is published as part of the Executive's school estate strategy Building our Future: Scotland's school estate. It builds on our guidance document Evaluation (June 2004) which sets out for local authorities some of the purposes and benefits of carrying out evaluations on completed school building projects, such as helping to inform progress on improving the school estate, allowing the sharing of individual project successes with stakeholders, identifying issues to address and informing the thinking and briefing for future projects.
The Evaluation document also outlines different approaches to POE and stresses that it is for each Local Authority to decide what scope and type of evaluation would be most appropriate in each case. However, a case study (carried out at a primary school in Edinburgh) is included in the guidance to illustrate one approach to POE which engages building users and other stakeholders to determine a broad assessment of how well the building meets their needs. The primary school case study - facilitated by New Zealand POE specialist Chris Watson -is relatively limited in scope and so it was decided in June 2005 to engage
Chris Watson to undertake a more comprehensive study at a Scottish secondary school. This document is a report of that study.
The POE was carried out at Braes High School in Falkirk, in June 2005. The school was opened in 2000 and is a new-build, 1200-pupil secondary school procured as part of the council's first Public Private Partnership ( PPP) project.
The exercise consulted 55 stakeholders including pupils, staff and other school users, as well as Council officials and technical staff involved in the design, construction and maintenance of the building.
The POE also includes a specialist sustainability component in which a group of Environmental Sustainability Designers ( ESD) were invited to comment on the effects of the building on the earth. This group comprised representatives from two local authorities and from private practice consultants who have an interest in environmental matters.
Falkirk Council, following publication of this Evaluation, has established an action plan to address the report recommendation within the context of the operational factors of the existing FSP contracts, the cost implications for the Schools Estate Programme for Falkirk schools as a whole and the implication for the day-to-day management of the facilities within Braes High School. Falkirk Council have also undertaken a detailed evaluation of the FSP ( PPP1) project in terms of operational FM issues and Design as part of the ITN process for the new NPDO schools ( PPP2).
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