In today’s austere economic climate cost efficiency is key. Cash-strapped local authorities are facing increased pressure to deliver more with much less in all areas of the built environment – not least schools, driving a new era of creativity and innovation in delivery. 

Last month we heard Selly Oak Trust School in Birmingham, a college for special needs children, has been forced to shorten its day in a bid to save money – highlighting just how alarming the holes in funding already are. Further anecdotal evidence tells of classroom sizes reaching as high as 40, narrowed curricula, with some subjects dropped entirely. Schools are already used to being imaginative with limited budgets, however post-Spring Budget, this is exacerbated. Crippling cuts of up to 7% per pupil for schools in England mean many head teachers are facing ‘impossible choices’.