Establish school building project aspirations early

Calls for head teachers and pupils to be more involved in the design process of the current schools rebuilding programme (DW 16 August) make perfect sense.

Arguably, the process of building and refurbishing schools would be made smoother for all involved if a level of understanding of the process could be established before the process starts for real.

Often, by the time a project starts, people are so eager to see tangible changes that time for exploration is limited. A prelude to projects – with staff inset days, workshops, and support sessions around design and construction – would help this.

I imagine this would be as beneficial to designers as it would to the teaching staff, by establishing project aspirations early on.

Catherine Greig, MakeGood, by e-mail