The Guernsey Institute

The Guernsey Institute

The Guernsey Institute (TGI): Guernsey’s New Provider of Further and Higher Education

In 2019 there were three on-island providers for further and higher education: the Guernsey College of Further Education (GCFE), the GTA University Centre (GTA UC), and the Institute for Health & Social Care Studies (IHSCS).In January 2018, the States directed the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture to create a single organisation which will deliver full-time and part-time technical, professional and vocational studies for the Bailiwick of Guernsey, by integrating the existing three providers. Peter Marsh Consulting Limited was commissioned to provide a report on the further and higher estate planning.

Most of the Estates Strategies that we write at PMc remain confidential documents but in this case our report was shared openly with Elected Members and the public. The full report can be downloaded from the link below (please note: due to size restrictions it has been separated into two main documents with 3 appendices.)https://www.gov.gg/fhtransformation 

As part of the work taking place to integrate the three providers of further and higher education in Guernsey, PMc were commissioned to consider the space requirements of the future organisation to inform the education brief for the project. We have subsequently been retained by the States to provide independent project assurance advice on both the TGI and 11-16 school and 6th form education transformation projects.

The Guernsey Institute: Guernseys New Provider of Further and Higher Education

The Guernsey Institute: Guernseys New Provider of Further and Higher Education

States of Guernsey – 11-18 Space Planning Report

States of Guernsey – 11-18 Space Planning Report

The Guernsey Institute: Guernseys New Provider of Further and Higher Education

The Guernsey Institute: Guernsey's New Provider of Further and Higher Education

Introduction

In 2019 there were three on-island providers for further and higher education: the Guernsey College of Further Education (GCFE), the GTA University Centre (GTA UC), and the Institute for Health & Social Care Studies (IHSCS).In January 2018, the States directed the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture to create a single organisation which will deliver full-time and part-time technical, professional and vocational studies for the Bailiwick of Guernsey, by integrating the existing three providers. It is also the Committee’s intention to partner with a UK university to obtain University College status. Peter Marsh Consulting Limited was commissioned to provide a report on the further and higher estate planning.

 

Most of the Estates Strategies that we write at PMc remain confidential documents but in this case our report was shared openly with Elected Members and the public. The full report can be downloaded from the link below (please note: due to size restrictions it has been separated into two main documents with 3 appendices.) https://www.gov.gg/fhtransformation

Overview

As part of the work taking place to integrate the three providers of further and higher education in Guernsey, Peter Marsh Consulting (PMc) was commissioned to consider the space requirements of the future organisation. Previously PMc carried out an analysis of the minimum education space requirements for the two extensions at Les Beaucamps High School and St Sampson High School. PMc have significant expertise in working with further and higher education organisations to develop space planning requirements and manage the delivery of further education building projects.

1.0 Condition and functionality assessment

Whilst most areas are operational, the College of Further Education facilities are ‘some of the least fit for purpose, most dispersed and uninspiring FE spaces that we have seen in the FE sector’. Observations of the Institute of Health and Social Care Studies (TI) and the GTA show a much higher quality of provision, providing the minimum baseline standard for any new build.

2.0 Space availability and space requirements

The current college data ‘suggests that the College has twice as much teaching space as may be theoretically required’. Current levels of utilisation are low. The curriculum planning for the Guernsey Institute appears well suited to the future new organisation; it does not assume that current plans should form the basis of actual recruitment and instead it builds in a modest amount of growth over and above the existing amount of learner activity.

 

PMc recommends adopting space utilisation targets that would see a substantial improvement in the use of space; whilst the targets proposed are marginally lower than those sometimes adopted for English new builds, they remain at the higher end of utilisation targets achieved in English colleges. Importantly, the lower levels of target utilisation proposed for workshop activities reflects the smaller cohorts anticipated for specialist activities; these would more likely to be rationalised across providers in an English setting, thus allowing for better utilisation than can be realistically achieved in Guernsey.

 

If the new Institute is located on the Les Ozouets site (LOC), a total area of just under 10,400 m2 is deemed appropriate, allowing for all of the required teaching spaces across the three strands of the existing institutions. This area has been arrived at after taking into account the fact that the Performing Arts spaces may be around 1,900 m2 larger than is strictly needed for curriculum purposes, and after having made modest adjustments to account for some of the specialist needs of the existing GTA and the Institute for Health and Social Care. PMc recommends a new build requirement of 8,173 m2 if the Institute is based at LOC and around 8,400 m2 if it built elsewhere. This is substantially lower than the c14,000 m2 recommended in earlier studies.

 

Potential additional requirements of other services currently based on the College sites were also considered. The Youth Commission requires c.600 m2.Their requirement for the shared use of a sports hall for use (which is not required in the Institute) means that an alternative location e.g. co-located with a school, on the existing grammar school site or at Beau Séjour, is preferable. The Music Service requires circa 370 m2 of discrete headquarters, storage and practice space. They currently access c550 m2 of space at the Performing Arts Centre (PAC) on a Saturday morning and use around 660 m2 of space at LOC and the grammar school at the same time; whether the HQ space and sharing of 660 m2 of other space are best located with the Institute or at the Les Beaucamps site should be subject to further evidence-based evaluation at the next stage. Careers and Student Finance – it is recommended that circa 90 m2 be included within the new build requirements of the Institute given its close links with education and careers.

3.0 Location

A range of options has been evaluated and LOC scored higher than all the others because of the benefits of co-locating with the Performing Arts Centre and the size of the site, which lends itself to being developed in a single phase. The site also provides further capacity for a community hub or an international university to be added at a later stage.

4.0 Design Brief

An RIBA 0 stage brief has been developed as follows:

(1) Professional and Technical Training Centre (working title only) c6,217 m2.This would be the main new building – probably a three-storey building with central facilities such as café, library, and social area together with a range of general purpose classrooms and art, media and IT studios plus spaces for health, hair/beauty and other specialist spaces that do not require high volume spaces. We envisage a discrete floor (or other zone) within the building for higher level and professional programmes, with dedicated conference and refreshment facilities to which access could be controlled by swipe-card. There would be a shared reception plus a careers, advice and guidance service.

(2) Performing Arts Centre c2,200 m2.The existing space would become part of the Guernsey Institute.There are options to design (1) in such a way as to extend the welcoming reception of the Performing Arts building into the new Professional andTechnicalTraining Centre. 

(3) New Vocational Workshop Buildings c2,063 m2. These activities require larger volume spaces which will allow for a simple steel frame design to be adopted. Activities such as construction, motor vehicle and mechanical engineering could be housed in this part of the campus.

5.0 Programme and Phasing

It should be possible to build both elements of the new buildings required to deliver the Guernsey Institute in a single phase of works. An element of demolition and decant of both the Music Service and theYouth Commission will be required on the LOC site to free up space for development. A construction management plan will be required to ensure the safe and effective continued occupancy of existing PAC and college operations during the build phase. After allowing for similar timescales for design, planning and build phases, an opening date of September 2023 is considered deliverable.

6.0 Costs

Based on an allowance of £4,000 per square metre and a new build area of 8,200 m2 for the baseline institute, plus 90 m2 for Careers and Finance, there is a budget cost of £33.16m.With the Music Service on the same site and an extra allowance for their core area of 370 m2 plus 25% circulation space this might require an additional budget cost of around £1.85m. Taken together this suggests a new build budget allowance of £33mto £35m at today’s prices. Once the need to fund decant costs (including for the Music Service and the Youth Commission); and, allowances for demolition, additional external works, programme risk, contingency and inflation are provided, a total capital allocation in the order of £40 – £45m may be considered reasonable.Based on UK benchmark data, each square metre of education space costs £80-£100 in estates spend per year. Reducing the area from 16,725 m2 to 10,480 m2 gives a reduction of 6,245 m2, potentially saving circa £500,000- £625,000 in running costs per year1 . N.B. this saving excludes the substantial costs of major repair work to the fabric of existing buildings which will also be required in the next 5 to 20 years under a do-nothing scenario.

Media

11-18 School
Transformation of Further and Higher Education
Condition Analysis of the Gurnsey College of FE Facillities

States of Guernsey – 11-18 Space Planning Report

States of Guernsey - 11-18 Space Planning Report

Introduction

The States of Guernsey are implementing a new education vision which brings to an end the grammar school  and secondary education model and replaces it with a new system of 11-18 education. The new system has been designed to provide the very best opportunities for all learners throughout their 11-18 year old education, irrespective of their academic performance at the age of 11.

In the new model all students will have the widest possible range of curricular and extra-curricular opportunities and teachers in Guernsey will be able to work across all key stages in secondary education, which will maximise the chances of developing, recruiting and retaining great teachers. Understandably students, teachers and parents will have questions regarding the 11-18 model.

Overview

Peter Marsh Consulting Limited was commissioned to provide a report on the 11-18 space planning requirements. The scope of our review included:

  • in the context of the existing buildings, reviewing standard BB103 space planning based on English school average attendance numbers and applying these to the average predicted total school rolls in Guernsey and make recommendations as to an appropriate area brief for the extensions;
  • critically appraising areas to see how and why they differ from those suggested by BB103;
  • reviewing the external areas against BB103 guidelines and requirements in the Guernsey context and sports

facilities available in the vicinity of the proposed preferred sites; and,

  • engaging with both parts of the States executive – Education, and Policy and Resources, to ensure a shared

understanding of the issues and to agree a joint way ahead.

We presented our final report to elected Members of the States of Guernsey in November 2018. In January 2018, the States directed the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture (ESC) to close the four existing secondary schools and create two 11-18 colleges, which will both host sixth forms. These two colleges will be part of one school.

The Policy Letter to secure the funding necessary to deliver the new model of education, which was agreed by the States last year – was published on 5 July 2019.

The PMc report was published alongside this letter as part of an open and extensive process of public consultation.

Key Facts

Heading #1
Start on Site
TBC (2024)
Completion Date
TBC (2026)
Refurbishment area (m²)
11,800 (TGI) + 3,500 (Sixth Form)
Total Project Budget
£85,000,000
Funder
States Of Guernsey
Architects
Design Engine
Technical Advisors
Burohappold Engineering
Cost Consultants
G&T
Project Manager, Employer’s Agent, Bid Writer & Cost Consultant
JLL
Main Contractor
TBC

To read our full Education Space Planning Report please see the link below:

https://gov.gg/secondaryschool

Project Team

London South East Colleges

London South East Colleges (LSEC) – Estates Strategy

Introduction

PMc were appointed in 2018 to prepare an Estates Strategy to produce a long-term plan to support delivery of London South East Colleges.  Their estate at the time covered seven sites across London:

  • Bromley;
  • Orpington;
  • Bexley Erith;
  • Holly Hill;
  • Plumstead;
  • Greenwich Park; and,
  • Kidbrooke.

The scope of the strategy involved analysing the size and condition of existing buildings, and identifying opportunities to to better meet the needs and expectations of current and future learners. This work involved considering options for the rationalisation and right-sizing of the estate to improve efficiency, reduce operating costs, lever grant funding and generate revenue and/or capital receipts from surplus assets.

The resulting outcomes of the work entailed:

  • the production of an interim report on the Plumstead campus to support a successful funding bid to the GLA which considered the College’s curriculum, education requirements and assessment of different development proposals;
  • the development and assessment of eight development proposals for the Orpington campus together with Richard Hopkinson architects. Following assessment of these options and strategic discussions with the college senior team, we identified a subset of preferred options for which we carried out an outline financial appraisals and a review of potential delivery routes;
  • the development of a zoning plan and short to medium term options for the relocation of curriculum offer from Orpington campus to Bromley campus including the review of existing curriculum, timetabling, and utilisation of teaching space.
  • the review of the Holly Hill campus curriculum plan, its existing and proposed area to critically assess a College’s proposal and bid presented to dispose this campus and develop a new campus in Thamesmead to provide digital skills and technology-based solutions for the construction sector;
  • Review of Bexley, Greenwich Park and Kidbrook campuses to identify quick wins and further opportunities to improve the estate condition, space utilisation and timetabling, the learning environment and the further development of the College curriculums.

 

Bromley

Bexley – Holly Hill

Bexley – Erith

Greenwich – ACL

Greenwich – Plumstead

Kidbrooke

Orpington