Further education (FE) colleges cater for post-school students of all ages, providing a range of general education and training. These include sixth-form education, vocational training and formal and informal community-based learning, as well as work-related training in partnership with local employers. FE colleges also serve the 14-16 age group, delivering education alongside local schools.

FE colleges are autonomous institutions in terms of the mix of syllabus they choose to teach, their sources of income and management of expenditure. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) provides strategic support in terms of management, planning and funding to 384 FE colleges in England. Similar bodies support the sector in Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland.

The LSC’s support naturally extends to the management and planning of the FE estate.This is a huge challenge, with significant issues of fitness for purpose and outstanding maintenance.

The poor condition of many FE colleges reflects a legacy of under investment going back to the regime of polytechnics and technical colleges. Recent surveys of the FE estate in England have found that nearly half of the buildings require significant renewal and modernisation.The LSC estimates that this will cost about £5bn.

The objective of this ambitious programme, which has been earmarked for about £750m a year in government funding until 2011, is to create an FE estate that is fit for purpose, sustainable and efficient, and that aims to improve the recruitment, retention and performance of students and staff.

In a large number of cases, where a college’s estate is unfit for purpose, spread over multiple sites or in a particularly poor physical condition, the preferred strategy will be to consolidate the estate into a smaller number of purpose-built facilities, preferably on a single campus.

Investment in FE colleges can gain additional impetus where campus redevelopments are part of wider urban regeneration initiatives, and will sometimes provide the public sector anchor of the initial phase.

While this opportunity can lever access to land and funding, involvement in an urban regeneration scheme can have a wider impact on a college’s operation. It may affect funding and access to industry partners, short-term and long-term stakeholders, curriculum development and expectations of what the college should deliver.

Most FE colleges are infrequent construction clients, so the LSC is developing guidance on design quality, design assessment and sustainability; cost and performance benchmarking; and procurement based on contractor and consultant frameworks.