Let's hang on to what we've got
The massive cut back in the schools capital investment programme will put pressure on maintenance budgets.
If we are not to see the state of schools decline it is imperative that this backlog is addressed and funded. The worst cast scenario is that insufficient maintenance budgets result in a levelling down as the backlog in old schools is funded at the expense of maintenance of the new stock
The maintenance requirements of the existing stock are therefore likely to rise significantly because of:
- A lack of funds to replace inefficient buildings;
- the need to address the backlog generally and specifically in those buildings that were due for replacement;
- the requirements of new buildings that will be hitting their first cycles of redecoration, and component replacement;
- 'lock-in' funding for PFI schools
There
was a general decline in level of maintenance expenditure as a
proportion of the replacement value of the stock in the five years to
2008*
The
large capital replacement programmes in both the public and private
sector that have taken place over the past 10 years have distorted the
maintenance spend for several reasons:
- buildings with the highest maintenance spend were replaced;
- backlog maintenance was allowed to accrue in anticipation of replacement;
- low life cycle cost spend in early years in a new building.
Of
course the budget for any stock of buildings needs to meet the
requirements of those buildings and will depend on a wide range of
factors including their design, specification, age, current state, etc.
BCIS Building Running Costs Online provides estimates for annual average maintenance for a wide variety of building types shows secondary schools £27.50/m2/annum.
However
it should be the needs of the buildings that sets the budget not an
arbitrary allocation of funds. We must not waste the benefits of the
recent investment by underfunding maintenance now.
As Frankie Valli so wisely said 'lets hang on to what we've got'
JM 21-7-10
*BCIS Economic Significance of Maintenance
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