Education estates strategy - exciting times ahead?

The Department for Education (DfE) has issued its Education Estates Strategy - A decade of national renewal - a 10‑year plan to transform how school and college buildings create opportunity for all. This strategy places its emphasis on building condition, resilience, and inclusive design, better aligning estate planning with core educational outcomes, from early years through to post‑16. 

This is a hugely exciting moment for anyone involved in the education sector, particularly those in property. There’s a great deal to digest, of course, but I’m genuinely excited by what this means for the future of the sector. 

The aim is to create modern settings capable of tackling climate change and ageing buildings, with a strategic, forward-looking approach to investment instead of continual reactive “patch and mend” repairs. This will result in an estates strategy which keeps the needs of pupils, teachers, and local communities as its focus. 

It’s encouraging to see a long-term vision which prioritises resilience, inclusion by design, and future-proof educational settings, improving the learning and life outcomes for children as well as staff morale and retention. 

Of course, the strategy needs to be seen in the context of a diminishing school population, and so must take into account potential repurposing, sharing, and rationalising space within educational settings. And there is a question mark as to exactly how much can be achieved by the £700m Renewal and Retrofit Programme, given the perilous condition of so many buildings within the education estate.

If you’d like to explore what this means for your organisation, or how to position your estate strategy for the decade ahead, please reach out. I’d be very happy to discuss how these changes could support your goals.