A flagship academy school, designed by Foster & Partners, has been branded a “nightmare” by the principal who runs it, reported Building Design, the weekly for architects.
The £31 m Business Academy Bexley, a 2004 Stirling Prize nominee in south-east London, was the first of Labour’s academies to open. It was officially opened by former prime minister Tony Blair seven years ago this month.
But the school’s chief executive Sam Elms told the Times Educational Supplement that if she had her way, she would move the school into a building more suitable for teaching.
The schools has been hit by a catalogue of maintenance problems. Problems have included the school having to shell out £15,000-a-year on temporary changing facilities because Foster’s building has just two changing rooms for 1,350 pupils. It is also spending a further £14,000 on external storage because there is not enough room on site.
Other problems include broken boilers, sewage defects, peeling paint, and a leaking roof which has "baffled" experts.
The constant problems have meant the school’s deficit could now rise from the current £500,000 to more than £850,000 next year.
Elms was quoted in Building Design as saying: “The roof leaks across the building which causes the floor to bubble.”
She added: “It’s a hugely expensive building and costs us an absolute fortune. It’s a nightmare to run. If we could move to another building, we would. It’s not great but we do the best we can.”
The academy was intended to set the standard for New Labour’s academies program, and featured high-end fixtures and fittings such as taps, door handles and even toilet seats shipped in from Italy.
In a separate story, Building Design covered a series of media statements made by journalist Toby Young, a figurehead for the "free schools" movement, about the lack of any proven link between architectural design and improved educational outcomes for schools students.
And the paper said the Department of Education had refused to comment on last week’s speculation that the Capital Review’s interim report will tell ministers they could build as many schools as they want for the money available by resorting to standardised design and off-site construction.
I am surprised to learn that a Foster-designed building could turn out with some many deficiencies. I used to enjoy looking at Foster’s buildings and my company has actually engaged Foster to do a proposal for a high-end condo in our capital city.
Well, could the ‘defects’ amount to professional negligence? I am keen to know any follow up action on the stakeholders on this issue.