Building Schools for the Future meaning

In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy efficiency of products Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental information ESG and sustainability Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Sources of environmental law (UK, EU, international) Waste Waste producer responsibility regimes LexTalk®Environment: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Latest Q&A Air emissions and climate change UKGBC launches UK Climate Resilience Roadmap On 26 June 2025, the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) unveiled the UK Climate Resilience Roadmap, the first guidance of its kind mapping how the UK’s built environment—covering homes, schools, workplaces, hospitals, parks and infrastructure—is increasingly exposed to five major climate risks: overheating, flooding, drought, wildfires and storms. The roadmap pinpoints 13 locations across the UK at highest risk from extreme weather, warning that areas such as Peterborough and...

This Practice Note reviews the principal issues and risks that routinely arise on major construction for education providers, spanning higher education, further education, academies and independent schools. See also Practice Note: Building Schools for the Future/Priority School Building Programme [Archived]. Typical procurement routes While any conventional procurement route can be used on an education project, three factors usually drive the route selected by education clients for their construction programmes: Nature of client Education clients seldom commission large capital schemes. It is not their core activity and, except for sizeable university estates teams, they rarely possess the in-house expertise to procure major works successfully. They are regarded as inexperienced construction clients. Funding Funding is often capped and time limited. As a result, works are commonly let on a fixed-price contract, typically at a higher cost, to secure the level of certainty and control sought by funders (public or private investment) and governors. See Funding below. Risk management Site risks on education schemes are generally...

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Back end Contentious, disputes‑focussed legal services, for instance representing a party in litigation... Benchmarking A method for assessing whether service quality and pricing align with prevailing market levels (where they exist) without running a formal competition. It can also be applied to track improvement or evaluate performance... Best value The obligation on every local authority to arrange for continual improvement in how its functions are carried out, having regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness (Local Government Act 1999, s 3). This entails considering costs, securing value for money, and ensuring services reflect community needs and the authority’s priorities. See Practice Note: Best value in public procurement... Bid bond Also called a tender bond (or guarantee). Used within the tender process to secure performance by bidding contractors, most commonly on international projects...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. It reviews the Building Schools for the Future government initiative together with the current Priority School Building Programme, and examines the construction contracts adopted as well as the negotiation issues commonly encountered in practice... Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was a Labour-led programme announced in 2003 by the Department for Education and Skills (which later became the Department for Education, or DFE), and it launched in 2004. Its purpose included, among other objectives, delivering a step change in children’s education by upgrading facilities, property and learning environments across local secondary schools. BSF was intended to be financed by a £55bn investment to improve schools over a 15–20-year period. Delivery was co‑ordinated nationally by Partnerships for Schools, set up by the DFE as both a company and a non‑departmental public body (ie a government‑sponsored organisation operating at arm’s length) for this purpose. The programme was funded jointly by the DFE and Partnerships UK,...