Rethinking The Real Estate of Education In Our Cities

The recent and ongoing impact of the pandemic has brought a renewed focus to our schools and the important function they have, not only in providing education to those of school age, but also as community hubs. As we move forward it is likely our lives will remain more local than they were before the pandemic, and the provision or lack of provision, of social infrastructure in communities will make a significant difference to the quality of people’s lives.

Over the past year, together with Jos Boys and colleagues at the Bartlett Real Estate Institute (BREI) we have developed a discussion paper, Educating the City: Urban Schools as Social Infrastructure, which aims to better understand the constraints and opportunities for urban, mixed-use schools, and the capacity for these to offer greater social and community value as vital components of the local social infrastructure.

This is a vital contemporary issue as a new typology of urban schools is emerging in the UK, underpinned by pressures on funding and escalating property prices that are demanding more complex, dense mixed-use solutions.

This paper explores what needs to change to make better use of educational facilities in their local context, through a five-point framework:

1. Broadening How We Value Schools

2. Educational Planning and Facilities Are For The Long Term

3. Join Up The Thinking

4. Enable Schools To Deliver Community Support

5. Design-In Community Potential From The Beginning

This paper was funded through a UCL Knowledge Exchange grant, and supported by a wide range of professionals across school building, research, policy, procurement, design and delivery.

↓ Download a copy of the paper here