Both existing and new English school premises are required by law to comply with minimum construction standards published by the Department for Education and Employment. This building bulletin provides practical guidance on meeting these standards covering acoustics, lighting, heating and thermal performance, ventilation, water supplies, and…

This bulletin offers guidance on English school premises regulations applying to safety protection against fires in the following general areas: means of escape in case of fire; precautionary measures to prevent fire; fire warning systems and fire fighting; fire spreading speed; structures and materials resistant to fires; and damage control. It…

Scores of millions of dollars are spent annually in the United States for new school buildings. With this large. expenditure has come a general desire that schoolhouses shall be usable, healthful, comfortable, and beautiful. Educators and architects have united in devising plans for school buildings. This bureau has published a valuable bulletin…

Describes the history, rules and regulations, organizational chart, and accomplishments of Maryland's full state funding of school construction. Recommendations are made for other states. (MLF)

The School Building Authority (SBA) of West Virginia is responsible for evaluating the state's school buildings, selecting capital outlay projects, and helping fund renovation and new building projects. The SBA has strict guidelines and criteria to help the state's 55 counties evaluate the condition of their school buildings. (MLF)

Considers reasons for low primary school attendance rates for children in the Philippines, including low school readiness and high costs. Describes the establishment of eight kindergartens in the Philippines through the World Organization for Early Childhood Education (OMEP) and provides case studies of three children attending OMEP kindergartens.…

Discusses how colleges can finance new construction projects during lean financial times by employing public/private partnerships in an off-balance sheet financing format. Construction planning of a new school parking deck is used to illustrate the process. Benefits of savings in operating costs, management fees, and other line-item expenses are…

Presents U.S. regional data on public school construction spending, including trends, profiles on new schools planned or currently underway, building types and composition, types of construction completed in 1998, and comparative construction spending analyses between regions. Data reveal an overall $3 billion increase in construction spending…

Recounts the innovative approach taken by Charlotte Catholic School administrators and Little & Associates Architects to convert an abandoned office building into a high-performance school. Describes the community's skepticism and the steps taken by administrators and architects to search for solutions that benefited the entire North…

Explores the house-concept design in educational facilities and explains how this concept addresses the relationship between the following dimensions of the school: learning processes; organizational structures; and learning environments. Also discusses how this concept can be incorporated into renovation projects and its future possibilities. (GR)

Discusses the top challenges commonly confronted nationwide by school districts districts, facilities, and business. Challenges include construction and repair, enrollment, funding, security and safety, technology, maintenance, staff training and retention, and unfunded mandates. (GR)

After three bond issues failed in De Soto, Kansas, the new superintendent, Marilyn Layman, moved immediately to build a districtwide consensus. A year later, voters passed a $14.7 million bond issue to construct a new high school and middle school with additional high and middle schools planned for the future. (MLF)

The secondary school principal, as "artist in residence," establishes a climate for excellence, promotes a vision of continuous improvement, and must confront numerous challenges, including students' earlier puberty and growing diversity. The principalship has acquired more responsibilities without needed incentives to attract…

Nevada's Clark County, the fastest growing school district in the nation, uses a life-cycle facilities management approach that monitors the individual components of each building on a database. The district's 10-year building program is addressing facilities infrastructure renewal, deferred maintenance, replacement, and new school construction.…

To help plan for the building or renovating of a media center, this paper presents a list of questions that the steering committee and the architect or project leader needs to answer. It opens with some general rules for planning, such as using a steering committee composed of stakeholders, involving the architect as soon as possible, not…