School Buildings.

Progress, Volume XVIII, Issue 2, 1 October 1922, Page 40

School Buildings.

ELIMINATING THE CONTRACTOR. SEQUEL TO WAR PERIOD. As the Education Department expends over half a million annually upon new schools its annual comment on building conditions is always interesting. This year’s report shows that the Department has not got over its uneasy feeling due to the very high leaders submitted during the peak-price period, when b aiders, even_cn a high price, ran risks of ultimate loss on a contract. The. Department’s report states: For some years it was difficult to erect school buildings except at excessive cost, and almost invariably additional sums had to' be approved to meet the amount of the actual cost over what was regarded as a reasonable estimate. Latterly, however, the position has been much more satisfactory, and substantial savings on the grants have been effected. The reduced cost of building is particularly noticeable in those education districts where the Boards have their own workshops and their own constructional staffs.

Profits under the tender system are eliminated, and, what is even more important from the educational point of view, the Board's permanent men, being constantly engaged on school buildings, know exactly what is aimed at, and become skilful in regard to matters that are apparently unimportant from a structural point of view, but are of great importance in connection with the working of the school and the comfort and convenience of the pupils and teachers. The saving in cost is particularly noticeable where an existing building has to be altered to provide for additions, or in the process of remodelling. The Department considers that the maintenance of school buildings is undoubtedly work that should be carried out by permanent staffs. Of the nine Education Boards, six now widely employ their own staffs.

The programme for remodelling and rebuilding schools, which it was expected would now be well under way, has been necessarily postponed. Except in cases of extreme urgency, grants for rebuilding have not been approved, and remodelling has been authorised only when it has been necessary in connection with the urgent provision of additions. Where remodelling has been carried out the result has been most satisfactory, and has convinced local school authorities, who previously were insistent in their demands for entirely new schools, that, provided the materials are sound, it is a very bad building indeed that cannot be remodelled to advantage at a fraction of the cost of a new structure.

A single error denotes only the human side of man; repeated errors denote carelessness and weak ness. It is not the act, but the habit, that under mines.