The UK government’s Department for Education is to meet with contractors and discuss its plans for a £2bn offsite schools framework
The Department for Education (DfE) aims to establish a four-year offsite schools framework for the delivery of schools by design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) and offsite construction methods.
It will follow on from the DfE’s existing school frameworks and supplement the existing DfE construction framework.
The DfE hopes – subject to consultation – that any new framework will be larger than the previous frameworks with a target to deliver up to a 100 new school projects a year by 2023.
It will be based on a more enhanced standardisation and focused on a manufactured offsite solution, to improve quality and efficiency to deliver programme and value savings.
It will also be open to a greater number of suppliers and different methods of offsite construction, including modular and portable buildings, kit buildings and prefabricated componentry.
In preparation for this procurement, the DfE is developing the GEN 5 solution pack as the latest iteration of its standardised design solution for schools. At its core will be a BIM model that includes a 3D design and specification that will demonstrate how to achieve the output specification requirements with a highly componentised solution of standard components suitable for efficient manufacture.
GEN 5 is a development of primary school design concepts but the aim is that the principles will be developed and applied to secondary schools and other school types.
A supplier engagement event is to be held at the Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry on 22 January 2019.
Suppliers can register their interest via the on-line messaging board at education.bravosolution.co.uk – ref. pqq 29019 no later than 11 January.
