The Challenges of School Building Maintenance:
Maintaining school buildings is a constant challenge as maintenance budgets often fall short of addressing all necessary repairs and renovations. Furthermore, limited funds lead to elevated pressure when emergencies arise. This means schools are often forced to take a reactive approach, which can result in escalating costs and compromises the overall condition and safety of school buildings.
The UK Government has introduced the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), which offers some support by providing schools with additional funding opportunities. While securing grants such as the CIF is important, schools must meet specific criteria, often leaving them to maximise their own budgets. Therefore, it is essential to consider long-term gains and cost savings through prevention.
Long-Term Gains through Prevention:
By investing in prevention, schools can minimize future repair costs and extend the lifespan of their buildings. One area where this can be easily achieved and provide immediate effects is door and wall protection.
Constant use, scuffing, and impact can cause doors, particularly fire doors, to become non-compliant and unsafe for building users in the event of a fire. Additionally, scuffed walls and doors can be unsightly and unhygienic, requiring costly and arduous maintenance painting, which often needs to be repeated annually. Door and wall protection solutions play a vital role in achieving these long-term gains, reducing overall maintenance costs, and maintaining a safe and clean environment for students.
Safety and Hygiene Considerations:
Hygiene has become more prevalent since the pandemic, so consideration must also be given to this when planning maintenance programs. Thankfully, wall and door protection products now go beyond cost savings and address several challenges, including hygiene and impact protection. Cleaning regimes are also made easy by making the fabric of the building work for you! For instance, Intastop’s wall and door impact protection is available in a PVC-u anti-bacterial textured sheet, including Hygienilac, an additive that kills 99.9% of bacteria. Its easy-to-clean surfaces and Class O fire rating all contribute to a safe and hygienic learning environment.
Creating a Practical and Engaging Learning Environment:
Wall protection doesn’t just provide a functional solution; it can also support learning programs, creativity, and mindfulness. Technological advancements have allowed the protective, safe, and hygienic elements of our impact protection sheet range to be further developed to assist in teaching and promote mental health best practices. Colours and imagery can now be used to enhance the learning environment. By protecting walls and doors in a way that supports your facility’s ethos through branding, images, school or zone colours, this simple part of maintenance can offer significant benefits and a collaborative approach to functionality and creativity.
The Future of School Building Maintenance:
Securing CIF grants is an important step for schools to address immediate repair needs. However, to ensure a sustainable future, schools must embrace prevention through products like wall and door protection. By making these investments, schools can break the cycle of reactive maintenance, reduce long-term costs, and create a safe and durable learning environment.
Case Study: The Bawtry Mayflower School:
The Bawtry Mayflower School faced a common challenge: the continual need for wall repainting and repairs due to everyday wear and tear. Seeking a cost-effective long-term solution, they turned to our PVC-u wall sheet protection. The PVC wall sheet proved to be a game-changer for the Bawtry Mayflower School. These durable sheets shielded the walls from scuffs, scratches, and impact damage, eliminating the need for frequent repainting. This proactive approach has resulted in long-term savings, allowing the school to allocate funds towards other critical educational initiatives.
By addressing school building maintenance challenges through preventive measures like wall and door protection solutions, schools can significantly reduce costs, ensure student, and staff safety, promote hygiene, and create an engaging learning environment. Our experience and expertise in this field make us a reliable partner for educational institutions seeking innovative solutions to overcome these challenges.
