Flat Pack Schools Will be the Future in the UK
Manufacturer and retailer of SIPs SIPFIT Direct (http://www.structuralinsulatedpanels.co.uk/) can reveal that flat pack schools will be the future in the UK. SIPs will be used in the same way as flat pack house construction to build schools cheaply and quickly as part of the UK government’s budget cuts.
The UK government has slashed the budget for the Department of Education from £7.6 billion to £3.4 billion over the next four years and part of the spending cuts include using SIPs (structural insulated panels) to build flat pack or pre-fabricated schools. These flat pack schools will be built to a standard design from a range of pre-approved plans. So why the move to flat pack schools and what is it about SIPs that is appealing to a government looking to save money wherever they can?
First and foremost, there’s the cost. SIPs are highly cost effective materials and can be used in a multitude of ways and in floors, walls and roofs. The cost of building with SIPs is significantly lower than with traditional construction, not just because of the materials, but also because far fewer man hours are needed in labour. There is also no need for costly architects as the designs will be far simpler with flat pack schools and there will be hardly any deviation from the pre-approved template designs. Secretary of state for education Michael Gove has made it clear that using architects will not be part of the future of school building in the UK, even naming one prominent architect in a recent press conference: “We won’t be getting Richard Rogers to design your school. We won’t be getting any ‘award-winning architects’ to design it, because no-one in this room is here to make architects richer.” Instead, construction companies have already begun to work on the previously approved standard designs, with not an architect in sight. Some construction companies are stating that they can reduce the price of a standard primary or secondary school by as much as 30%.
Once construction begins, the classrooms, gyms and lavatories will all be mass-produced off-site and then moved into place once finished. This is another key advantage of applying flat pack house construction to schools. The site of the school goes from plot of land to finished school with the minimum of fuss, mess and waste suffered by the community in which it sits – most of the construction work with SIPs goes on completely away from the final site.
Finally, there’s the speed of construction. The time it takes to build a school made from SIPs will be around 13 weeks, compared to 18 months or more for a traditional build school. Some companies claim they can deliver a finished school in just 6 weeks.
Discover more about how SIPs are revolutionising construction in the UK at http://www.structuralinsulatedpanels.co.uk/.
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