SPACES e-news – March 2017

SPACES Study Day 2016 – Delivering Educational SPACES

This year’s study day will be held on Friday 23rd June
with study day visits and an evening social taking place on Thursday 22th
June at the Manchester School of Architecture and the theme is Building
Education SPACES.

Following on from last year’s successful event, the day
will again be looking at how best to successfully deliver school buildings
and educational spaces with challenging programmes and budgets but without
compromising quality, maintenance and the environment. In short, it will
be an opportunity to share and learn best practice from around the country
and make new networks. Further information will be added to the website.

SPACES Yearbook and Building Awards 2017

The closing date for submissions was the
24th February – and to date we have had over 100 submissions.
There will be a shortlisting meeting soon, which will be followed by an
announcement of those projects that are to be shortlisted.

Subscriptions 2016

Thank you to all that have paid their subscriptions. If
you have yet to do so, and wish to remain a member, please email me.

Yearbook 2016

You can download an online version is from the website.

Website

All members who have paid their subscriptions in the
last year, would have received their logging in details (if you are a new
member you will be receiving your details shortly). The next stage is to
get the online forum up and running, watch this space.

A reminder that the manager@thespaces.org.uk email
address is now up and running, and the policy@scala.org.uk email address
will no longer be used. Please change your records accordingly as the policy@scala.org.uk will not be
checked on a regular basis.

Upcoming SPACES Meetings

Technical meetings

Surge protection and updates on the wiring regulations – Monday 3rd April

There will be an Technical Group Meeting at The Counting House, London on Monday 3rd April 2017.

There will be two presentations:

  • Surge Protection Devices, by Samad Khan, ABB Ltd, and followed by
  • Updates on Wiring Regulations and other electrical matters by Charles Tanswell and Colleagues

Followed by updates on SPACES, Technical Matters and Enquiries, and Networking.

For further information, and to book your place, please see our website.

Hub meetings

Midlands – Friday 19th May 2017

There will be a Midlands Hub Meeting in Birmingham.
Further information to follow.

Technical items

Condition Data Collection – Members in the Stakeholder groups

As you will be aware from previous newsletters the EFA
are about to embark on their new Condition Data Collection programme
(CDC). Pilot surveys of schools have already commenced on 40 sites across
the Country. Please see the letter that has been issued to all Responsible
Bodies. As part of launching the programme the EFA are holding  three
separate stakeholder groups (one for Responsible Bodies, one for
educational establishments / schools, and one for ‘professional bodies’).
Each will have a slightly different focus to reflect members’ differing
levels of direct engagement with the CDC programme.

We have SPACES representatives invited to both the
Responsible Bodies and Professional Bodies stakeholder groups.  Our
SPACES President, Martin Kent will be attending the Responsible Bodies
Group and our SPACES Technical  Director, Mark Dunne has been invited
to join the EFA Professional Bodies Stakeholder Group.

New guidance on asbestos management in schools

The Education Funding Agency has published new guidance
on GOV.UK aimed at schools, local authorities and trusts in understanding
their obligations and duties in relation to asbestos management in
schools. The guidance can be found on the GOV.UK
website
.

BB100: Fire Safety

Due to a number of complications the timeline for the
reissue and revision of BB100 has been unfortunately  delayed. The
current aim is to ‎complete and publish by March 2017.

Surge Protection Devices

Our representative on the UK Wiring Regulations
Committee , Charles Tanswell, has recently been challenging an European
requirement to extend the range of buildings where Surge Protective
Devices (SPDs) have to installed (rather than by the current requirement
of risk assessment) to offices and schools . If any member has a
particular interest in this subject then please do contact Charles
direct.

Smoke Detector Alarms

Research by Dundee University and Derbyshire Fire and
Rescue found that of 34 children tested, 27 repeatedly slept through smoke
detector alarms. For information see the BBC website. Mark
Dunne, Technical Director also pointed out that Smoke Alarms also have an
expiry date and this should be checked.

Fixing our broken housing market: consultation

The Department for Community and Local Government have
a consultation on changes to planning policy and legislation in relation
to planning for housing, sustainable development and the environment. For
further information see Gov.UK.

ACA Meetings and news

Information on ACA events can be found on the website or email , please
email Shona
Broughton
.