Description

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Post-war demand for school places encouraged local authorities to think in terms of programmes of schools rather than one-offs. To this end, prefabricated systems of construction were organised into school building 'consortia', but from c.1973 ceded to 'rationalised traditional' construction, usually in brick. Falling pupil numbers and cuts in public expenditure made the last quarter of the twentieth century an era of contraction, rationalisation and rehabilitation of building stock. Prescient themes of the 1980s include energy conservation, more enclosed plans and the introduction of market forces.

About the Author

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Geraint Franklin is an Investigator at Historic England. Elain Harwood is an architectural historian with Historic England and expert in Second World War English architecture. Simon Taylor is a Senior Investigator at Historic England.