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In line with the OECD strategy for “green growth”, an international conference entitled “Sustainable School Buildings: From Concept to Reality”, co-organised by CELE and the Ministry of Education and Sport in Slovenia on 1-2 October 2009, brought together over 130 delegates from Slovenia and around the world.
They not only listened to presentations and took part in debates, but also visited three schools and reflected on an exhibition showing international and Slovenian examples of sustainable school buildings.
The conference focused on the challenges of creating school buildings that are sustainable in the long term and how to create adaptable learning environments. It also dealt with the more immediate challenge of mitigating climate change and how governments are addressing this through their building programmes. For example, Professor Toshiharu Ikaga, from Keio University, explained Japan’s USD 11 billion investment in the “Schools New Deal” programme which includes the fitting photo-voltaic and other power sources to schools, as well as seismic safety and ICT initiatives. Jane Briginshaw, United Kingdom, saw some the greatest challenges as being 1) the lack of government infrastructure in the country’s neediest areas, and 2) addressing behaviour change and raising awareness in order to have effective policies for reducing carbon emissions.
Presentations from Teresa Heitor, Portugal, and Giorgio Ponti, Italy, addressed the practical challenges of modernising schools; Johani Pallassma, a Finnish architect, looked at the philosophical underpinning of sustainable architecture, while Dutch architect Herman Herzberger explored the creation of adaptable learning environments drawn from 50 years’ experience in designing schools.
The challenges that face policy makers, designers and users in creating sustainable school buildings vary from creating coherent policy frameworks across several government departments to providing environments that are usable. For example, one problem that occurs is that the “energy reducing” features designed into buildings do not always work. Often this is because the people using the buildings are not familiar with the technologies and how to use them. While on paper the building may appear environmentally sustainable, in practice it is not. The challenge is to design buildings with technologies that users understand and can operate easily.
It was also clear from the discussions over the two days that to create school buildings that are usable in the long term demands input from all stakeholders during the early design stages. Not only do the designers get a better understanding of the needs that the building must fulfil, but the users get a better understanding of the opportunities that the buildings create for them over the long term. This point was raised by head teachers and students alike.
For more information, contact Alastair.Blyth@oecd.org.
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