The Children’s Minister, Delyth Morgan, has announced that acoustic testing will be a contractual requirement for all Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects. The measure was initiated to ensure that no funding will be signed off for a BSF secondary school building project without a commitment to having the £6000 acoustic test.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) announced the requirement as part of a package of measures to improve acoustics in schools and ensure that all children, particularly those with hearing difficulties, have access to a learning environment which enables them to reach their full potential. It follows the Minimum Design Standard brought into the BSF programme to strengthen the design quality, which was announced in May. Under the Standard, all proposed designs for BSF sample schools are assessed by a schools design expert panel for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE).
Baroness Morgan said: ‘Good acoustics are essential to a successful learning environment for all children, particularly for those with special hearing requirements. To continue our drive for improvement, I am announcing a package of measures designed to ensure that school buildings have good acoustics and that the needs of those with special hearing requirements are met.
For further information, visit the DCSF website
www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0191&CID=twitterPN191
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