An Easier Way to Comply with the Facilities Output Specification

The Priority Schools Building Programme seeks to replace or refurbish school buildings identified as being most in need of improvement. The programme aims to create learning spaces that perform better and at a lower overall cost than under the previous Building Schools for the Future initiative.

To achieve these goals, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) adopted the Facilities Output Specification (FOS). The current re-tender of PSBP framework is likely to bring in an update to the FOS as long as commercial constraints can be met.

FOS Objectives

The FOS has the following main objectives:

• Well-integrated and simple buildings that benefit from daylight and hybrid ventilation.
• Buildings where the fabric is the primary means of controlling the internal environment.
• Buildings that perform better than ones with complex M&E systems and bolt-on technological features.

Standardisation is also high on the agenda, to limit costs and speed up the design process. The FOS highlights a number of design priorities:

• Providing daylight into circulation areas and rear of classrooms.
• Meeting adaptive thermal comfort criteria to avoid summertime overheating.
• Meeting carbon dioxide concentration criteria to provide adequate indoor air quality in classrooms.
• Ensuring the indoor environment is easily controllable locally by building users, without mechanical cooling of classrooms.

Whilst the FOS has come under criticism from many sides, its overarching aim still has merit;  to provide an environment conducive to effective learning, all year round, at minimal cost.

by Innovaré and the FOS

The System created by Innovaré is ideally suited to meeting the challenges posed by the FOS. It is the only offsite built system that has the flexibility to comply with the FOS without derogation. In other words, there are no compromises that need to be made.

For example:

• The exceptional in-built thermal insulation properties of the panels shield the structure from extreme external temperatures. Buildings are cheap to heat in winter and resistant to summer overheating.
• Thermal mass or ventilation solutions can be incorporated without adding significant weight (unlike the concrete added to traditional builds); so there is minimal impact on foundation specification.
• Daylight into communal areas and the rear of classrooms can be accommodated via roof lights, clerestory lighting, lightwells or atrium spaces.
• The precision and air-tightness of the System ensures that the finished building conforms to the design specification for air movement.

Together with the fast and reliable build schedules, the performance of the System makes it ideal for school building projects. And because Innovaré engineer, design, manufacture and install the panels, we can support you at every stage of your project. Meeting FOS requirements couldn’t be any easier.

To find out more about how Innovaré can partner with you to help with your FOS compliant offsite construction give call us on 0845 6740020 or visit our website.