School Buildings: Planning, Maintenance and Renewal
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 Introduction
One of the Victorian Government’s
highest priorities is to provide a high quality education for the
540 000 students attending government schools. The government wants
these students to have the opportunity to succeed regardless of
where they live or their socio-economic background.
Achieving this objective requires good
teachers, a challenging and appropriate curriculum, and facilities
that adequately support learning and the modern methods used to
deliver courses. The focus of this audit is on how well school
buildings and their permanent fixtures, such as lighting, heating
and cooling systems, are managed to deliver the conditions
necessary for effective learning.
The Department of Education and Early
Childhood Development (the department) has the supervision and
management responsibility for the 29 000 government school
buildings in Victoria.
The government’s 2006 Building Futures
Policy sets out the process for guiding all infrastructure
investment in Victorian government schools. The policy puts
improved education outcomes for students at the core of all
planning and investment decisions.
The department provides funding for
buildings maintenance and selects schools for inclusion within the
government’s building programs to construct and modernise schools.
The department spends on average $60 million each year on the
maintenance of school buildings that have a depreciated replacement
value of $4.3 billion. Schools are responsible for the day to day
maintenance of school buildings and for planning and supervising
the completion of building works.
The audit assessed the department’s
management of programs to build, rebuild and maintain government
school buildings by examining:
- the planning processes used to determine
investment and maintenance actions and priorities
- the implementation and monitoring of these
actions once committed
- the evaluation of asset management actions and
the processes used to translate the results into an improved
plan.
1.2 Conclusion
Most of today’s school buildings were
constructed quickly between the 1950s and the 1970s in response to
a period of rapid population growth using lesser quality materials.
In subsequent decades, the level of investment in school buildings
has not been sufficient to renew and maintain facilities to provide
the type of environment needed to develop students’ learning
potential.
Recognising this legacy, and the need to
address it, the government’s Victorian Schools Plan
committed to rebuild or renew all government schools by 2017. The
initial funding of $1.8 billion will more than double annual
expenditure on school construction and rebuilding between 2007 and
2011.
Given this period of transition and
renewal, we found that the department had made improvements to the
processes it uses to plan, implement and evaluate asset management
programs.
The department has achieved much. It
has:
- formed a robust high level framework to address
the government’s objectives and manage Victoria’s school
buildings
- developed the Building Futures process
as a structured approach to the development and delivery of school
buildings projects
- demonstrated a good track record in delivering
the government’s school rebuilding and refurbishment
projects
- developed and applied an audit approach to
assess asset condition and estimate outstanding maintenance
works
- progressed research to develop an approach to
buildings maintenance designed to maximise the government’s
investment in school buildings.
- However, there is more to do and our
recommendations are designed to:
- strengthen and make more transparent the way
schools are selected for inclusion within the government’s building
programs
- upgrade the department’s existing asset
management information systems
- improve the way school buildings are maintained
through longer-term maintenance planning
- strengthen the processes used to evaluate asset
management programs and highlight areas for further development and
improvement.
Transforming the way buildings are
maintained is of critical importance if the government is to reap
the full benefits of its investment in rebuilding government
schools. The department has researched sustainable approaches to
maintenance planning and procurement and is testing these
approaches through pilot applications.
The department needs to use this
information to present a cohesive framework of relevant options to
government so that it can make an informed choice about how renewed
school buildings should be maintained.
1.3 Recommendations
The department should:
- formulate a comprehensive business case of the
costs and benefits of options for the future maintenance and
renewal of all school buildings
(Recommendation 3.1)
- support schools in moving to a longer-term
approach to planning through the creation of five-year building
maintenance plans (Recommendation 3.2)
- document and apply robust processes to assess
the building needs of schools and use this to inform the selection
of schools for inclusion within the government’s building programs,
to assist delivery of improved educational outcomes
(Recommendation 3.3)
- strengthen the Building Futures process
by requiring the inclusion of longer‑term maintenance plans and
costs for the project proposal and for the base case, assuming the
project does not go ahead. (Recommendation
3.4)
- upgrade its asset management information systems
to improve the way school buildings are maintained and renewed
(Recommendation 5.1)
- strengthen the processes used to validate the
comprehensiveness and accuracy of the information collected through
condition audits as it moves to a new approach that monitors asset
condition (Recommendation 5.2)
- strengthen its building evaluation processes
by:
- applying and documenting a structured and
comprehensive approach to capture performance issues
- reviewing and where required strengthening the
post occupancy review processes so that they adequately detect and
report on significant performance issues (Recommendation
5.3).
RESPONSE provided by Secretary, Department of
Education and Early Childhood Development
DEECD notes the Auditor-General's
report and the continuous improvement emphasis of the
recommendations made. The Department sees as one of its main
responsibilities is to manage and drive continuous improvement in
the delivery of primary and secondary education in Victorian
Government schools.
The results of the audit are welcomed
in this context.
Recommendation
3.1
DEECD accepts in principle this
recommendation. The Department considers that the intent of this
recommendation is already managed through the DEECD Asset Strategy,
and the Master Planning stage of the Building Futures Framework.
All major renewal projects proceeding through Building Futures
Master Planning stage have a thorough examination of the
sufficiency, condition and suitability of existing stock to ensure
that the proposed investment in each school will deliver improved
student outcomes.
FURTHER comment by the
Auditor-General
The department has pointed towards the
detailed framework for project development and the overall asset
strategy. Neither of these appropriately deals with the intent of
this recommendation.
The business case we refer to will compare
the costs and service impacts of continuing with the past
maintenance approach across all schools, and options to provide
life cycle maintenance and other variants on this. This would
provide the information needed to choose and understand the
consequences of the strategic approach adopted to manage school
buildings.
RESPONSE provided by Secretary, Department of
Education and Early Childhood Development
- continued
Recommendation
3.2
DEECD accepts in principle this
recommendation but considers the recommendation may require
additional funding and resourcing. The Department is currently
undertaking a series of maintenance pilots to assess approaches
that will improve the quality and timeliness of maintenance
activities and this will be supported by the introduction of a
rolling condition audit process. The Department will also review
the effectiveness of developing maintenance plans for major
building types to enable a longer term approach to forecasting
maintenance needs.
Recommendation
3.3
DEECD accepts this recommendation and
takes on notice the need for continual review of processes such as
Building Futures to ensure they are effective. The Department will
ensure that the outcomes from Post Occupancy Reviews and the
Building Futures Evaluation stage inform improvements in school
design and program delivery.
Recommendation
3.4
DEECD accepts this recommendation and
is continually reviewing the way maintenance in schools is managed.
The Department is currently testing a differentiated funding model
involving four maintenance pilot projects and over the next two
years will be gathering a body of evidence to explore avenues for
strengthening the Building Futures process. The Department does not
wish to pre-empt the outcomes of this testing prior to
conclusion.
Recommendation
5.1
DEECD accepts this recommendation. The
Department is currently making changes and improvements to the
School Maintenance System in preparation for the introduction of
rolling maintenance audits.
Recommendation
5.2
DEECD accepts this recommendation and
will continuously review the processes used to collect and report
on the maintenance requirements of schools. The outcomes of the
maintenance pilot projects will inform longer term decisions on
improved processes relating to the assessment of asset
condition.
Recommendation
5.3
DEECD accepts this recommendation. The
Department has commenced a series of building performance reviews
to better understand the performance of school buildings and to
inform improvement in school design. The post occupancy review
processes will be reviewed and improved to ensure that any
significant building performance issues are identified and
rectified.