We are delighted to share the reflections of Ian Denison, Director of Inscyte. In this thought-provoking thinkpiece, Ian explores the future of school buildings in an era of rapid technological change, particularly the impact of AI on learning environments. He critiques the government’s standardised “flat-pack” approach to school design, arguing that it risks repeating past mistakes by relying on outdated models. Instead, he calls for bold, creative, and user-driven design – engaging students in shaping the spaces where they learn to ensure they are flexible, future-ready, and inspiring.
The Next Generation of School Estate
Over the last 40 years we have seen many incarnations, and even reincarnations, of the model of education. Architects have eulogised about core and cluster models, the mall atmosphere and the Collegiate model. Arguably, the single biggest impact on how we view learning in our generation was forced upon us through Covid. There has been an established realisation within industry and the commercial world that home working is cost effective and has environmental and social benefits. In theory, we are ready to embrace a new language around the facilities we need to deliver for a modern education environment. The biggest catalyst for this change in approach must be AI. AI is transformational in the advancement for education methodologies, the landscape is shifting almost daily because of developments with AI. The educational built environment has to be able to adapt to this change and recognise the implications in a much more inclusive manor than has happened to date.
Shaping the assets we teach from cannot be based on the thinking of the last 5 years, let alone the last 20 years. It must be forward looking, flexible, environmentally conscious and most importantly stimulating for its end users. If we are not careful, we will simply repeat the failures of the past.
Recent government announcements about expenditure programmes in Schools are welcomed but the subsequent procurement process adopted and managed by the central government agencies is concerning. The current thinking is to encourage the “Flat Pack” approach to school developments to reduce programme time spent on design and to improve cost effectiveness. This off-the-shelf approach leaves very little scope for growth and divergence. Contractors and national framework providers are being asked to design schools within weeks, from enquiry through to bid submission, this means that tomorrow’s schools are potentially being delivered through design briefs developed 10 or even 20 years ago.
We need to design spaces that are fed by the possibilities derived from the differing learning platforms available to educationalists.
Walk into any family unit and the least technologically equipped members of the household are often the parents. So, let’s engage the user head on, make our young people part of the solution, the next generation of space managers, because they are far more equipped to know what the future looks like than a grey bearded old codger like me.
Let’s be brave, let’s be creative, let’s engage the very people we are providing the facilities for. This will encourage a focus on optimising the creative process, bringing innovation back to the table, and focusing on user influenced spaces.
