01 / Introduction

As the UK population rises, so too does demand for school places. State school building stock is growing, but not fast enough: across school types, there is expected to be a need for at least 420,000 more school places by 2021.

Most of this increase in pupil numbers is to be found at primary school level. The number of pupils across all school types rose by 110,000 between 2016 and 2017 alone, with 74,500 of these pupils entering primary schools, according to a report by AMA Research.

In England, on which this cost model is focused, there were 50 million m2 of state-maintained school buildings, across 22,616 schools at the government’s last official count. That figure has increased significantly since 2013, when the count was taken. There was a 46% leap in education construction between 2013 and 2017, according to AMA Research.

Such a rise in construction activity sounds encouraging, but since 2017 building output has dropped. Education construction shrank by 8% in 2018, in line with state funding cuts to the sector. The following year saw a similar downwards trend, and construction output in 2020 has of course been hit by covid-19 restrictions and site closures.

Schools across England are therefore facing growing student numbers, with falling construction activity to accommodate these additional pupils.

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