The redevelopment of all education facilities needs to be approached in a structured manner, and to be informed by the preparation of feasibility studies and masterplans at the outset of the process.
These studies will typically include analysis of the existing building stock and setting, together with the preparation of a series of costed option appraisals, examining differingprospects for redevelopment.
The asessment of these options must include pragmatic considerations with regard to phasing, capital cost, life cycle costs, programme etc. together with other less quantifiable issues such as ethos and the quality of the learning environment.Masterplans require to be suitably informed by an appreciation of current teaching and learning trends, but with a flexibility to adapt to an ever changing education landscape.
We have completed feasibility studies for primary and secondary schools across the controlled and voluntary sectors in Northern Ireland. Within the masterplanning field we completed a major examination for Kingston University’s Kingston Hill Campus in the 1980’s (followed by the successful delivery of the first phase of redevelopment), and are presently working up proposals for the University of Ulster’s Jordanstown Campus that accommodates some 16,000 full-time equivalent students.