Circular number 10/96

Part IV - Structural Requirements and Health and Safety

Load bearing structure
Weather protection
Safety protection
Acoustics, lighting and heating
Ventilation
Water supplies and drainage


Load bearing structure

51. School buildings must at all times be structurally sound.

Weather protection

52. School buildings should in general be weathertight. The question of what constitutes "reasonable resistance" to weather is, in the first instance, for the LEA or grant-maintained school governors to determine.

Safety protection

53. School land and buildings must allow for escape from buildings if there is a fire. The Regulations stress that attention must be given to three aspects of fire safety:

• the likely rate of surface spread of fire;
  
  
• fire resistance of the structures; and
  
  
• means of escape from fire.

54. LEAs and governors must make sure that the condition of school buildings and land, including surface finishes, provides reasonable assurance of occupants' health, safety and welfare. This means, for example, that there should be sufficient space to avoid overcrowding, good hygiene should be possible and safety surfaces provided where necessary.

Acoustics, lighting and heating

55. There are regulations to make sure that noise insulation, heating, lighting and ventilation in all occupied areas are appropriate to the normal use of the room or space. There must also be adequate supplies of water (including drinking water) and proper drainage. The technical specifications for lighting and heating are set out below.

Acoustics

56. The acoustic conditions and noise insulation of rooms and other spaces in the school should be appropriate for their normal use.

Lighting

57. The technical requirements for lighting are that the work surfaces in teaching areas should receive at least 300 Lux of illumination. In areas where visually demanding tasks are carried out, a higher level of illumination, of at least 500 Lux, is needed.
    
    
58. Light fittings should produce a glare index no higher than 19. Glare index measures the direct glare from light fittings which might be seen, for example, by someone looking up from their work.

Heating

59. The minimum standards for heating systems state that the system should be capable of maintaining the temperatures shown in Table 1 below, when the external air temperature is minus 1-C. For the purpose of the Regulations, temperatures in the school should be measured at 0.5m above floor level.

Table 1: appropriate temperatures for different areas

60. If a part of the school is:
    

    • occupied; and
      
      
    • has a heating system; and
      
      
    • is colder than the temperature appropriate to its normal use;

    then it must be heated up to that temperature.

Hot Surfaces

61. Certain pupils are more at risk than others from very hot surfaces. In special schools and nursery schools, and in teaching accommodation used by nursery classes, the surfaces of radiators and exposed pipes should not be hotter than 43°C where they are within pupils' reach. Pipework and radiators in such situations should be enclosed or guarded, or their temperature restricted to 43°C or lower.

Ventilation

62. The Regulations set out standards for:

• a normal level of ventilation in all occupied areas; and
  
  
• the capability of a higher level of ventilation in certain areas, which might be needed under particular circumstances.

Normal level of ventilation

63. All occupied areas should have controllable ventilation at a rate of at least 3 litres of fresh air per second for each of the maximum number of persons the area will accommodate. This means that rooms should not become too stuffy in normal use. In many newer buildings, the background ventilation can be controlled by opening or closing small air vents to take account of different numbers of occupants.
    
    
64. The prescribed rate is 3 litres per second per occupant. There should normally be no difficulty in meeting this requirement without using mechanical ventilation, and in older buildings there may be sufficient air infiltration even when doors and windows are closed.

Extra ventilation when it is needed

65. Over and above this background level, there should be the capability to ventilate certain areas at a higher rate. It will only be necessary to use the higher rate of ventilation under certain circumstances (for example, to cool rooms on a very hot, sunny day, or to clear fumes if solvent has been spilt in a practical area).
    
    
66. In most rooms this additional level of ventilation can be achieved simply by opening windows, doors or air vents. Only if this is not possible should schools consider using mechanical ventilation.
    
    
67. This additional capability to provide at least 8 litres of fresh air per second for each of the usual number of occupants, is required for:

• all teaching areas;
  
  
• medical examination and treatment rooms;
  
  
• sick rooms;
  
  
• sleeping accommodation; and
  
  
• living accommodation.

68. But for washrooms a different standard applies: this is because the "usual number" of occupants of a washroom is not easy to define. All washrooms should be capable of being ventilated, by whatever means, at a minimum rate of 6 air changes an hour.
    
    
69. In areas where there is likely to be heavy condensation, such as kitchens and shower rooms, adequate measures should be taken to prevent it. There should also be adequate means of removing noxious fumes from every room where these may occur.

Water supplies and drainage

70. Schools should have water for domestic purposes, e.g. washing, cleaning floors and washing up crockery and drinking water.
    
    
71. Washbasins, sinks, baths and showers should have adequate supplies of both hot and cold water. To minimise the risk of scalding, the temperature of hot water supplies to baths and showers should not exceed 43ºC.