For those running a school, the start of the academic year is demanding enough. When you overlay the unique pressures of the winter season – short days, heavy rain, and freezing temperatures – onto the daily chaos of student life, the challenge becomes immense.
This period of high occupancy combined with harsh weather is when small issues in your building’s fabric such as the roof, walls, windows, and flooring, escalate rapidly, threatening both compliance and the learning environment.
A proactive approach to maintaining the school fabric is not just about aesthetics; it’s about defence. A well-maintained fabric acts as a secure, insulated envelope, protecting the vital systems and people inside.
At FPM Facility Services, we know that quick, targeted action is the key to preventing a minor crack or a damp patch from turning into a major, budget-draining repair. This blog outlines the critical fabric issues that need addressing now, ensuring your school remains a safe, dry, and functional place of learning throughout the winter period.
The School Fabric: Why Winter is the Hardest Test
The building fabric in a school is subjected to a unique combination of stresses:
- Intense Wear and Tear: High foot traffic, especially in corridors, stairwells, and communal areas, rapidly degrades flooring, paint, and wall coverings.
- Climate Exposure: The UK winter exposes roofs and external walls to sustained rain, thermal shock, and freezing-thaw cycles. This rapidly degrades seals and roofing materials, making leaks inevitable if neglected.
- Safety and Safeguarding: Every fabric issue – from a loose paving slab to damp in a classroom – is a direct safeguarding concern.
Targeted maintenance ensures your resources are spent strategically, preventing immediate crises.
Our Breadth of Experience in Education
We understand that a nursery school’s maintenance needs are vastly different from those of a multi-site secondary academy or an independent college. Our experience spans the full spectrum of the education sector, and we tailor our maintenance plans accordingly.
We work with Local Authority schools, Independent institutions, Academies, and Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs), servicing properties that range from historic primary buildings to modern, modular structures. This broad experience means we are adept at navigating diverse procurement processes, compliance requirements, and operational constraints specific to each type of school, always ensuring the highest standard of safeguarding and execution.
Targeted Interventions: Critical Fabric Checks
Rather than attempting a full-scale overhaul, focusing on specific, high-risk elements of the fabric now will yield the greatest results in mitigating winter damage.
1. Roof and External Envelope Integrity
A leaky roof is perhaps the single most disruptive fabric failure a school can face, leading to damaged IT equipment, unsafe electrical conditions, and unusable classrooms.
- Guttering and Drainage: Clear all gutters and downpipes of seasonal leaf fall and debris. Blocked gutters are the primary cause of water overflow that penetrates external walls.
- Roofing Survey: Conduct a detailed visual or drone inspection of all roof areas. Identify and repair cracked tiles, loose flashing around vents, and compromised seals on flat roofs. Pay particular attention to parapet walls and their capping’s, as these are common points for water ingress.
- Vent Seals: Check the seals around all vents, flues, and utility penetrations. Thermal shock from extreme temperature changes can cause these seals to crack, allowing water entry.
2. Paving, Pathways, and Access Safety
With early dusk and frequent rain, external access points become high-risk areas for slips and trips.
- Paving and Tarmac: Inspect all playgrounds, walkways, and car parks for cracks, lifted slabs, or potholes. Water pooling in these defects will freeze, creating severe ice hazards. Repairing these now is a crucial liability mitigation step.
- Drainage Grates: Ensure all external drainage grates are clear and functioning. Water runoff must be efficient to prevent flooding and sheet icing.
- Handrails and Fencing: Check that all external handrails on steps and ramps are securely fixed and free of rust or loose components.
3. Internal Finishes and Environmental Control
Internal fabric issues are often signs of deeper, environmental problems that are exacerbated when the school is sealed up for the winter.
- Damp and Mould Mitigation: Look for signs of damp, water staining, or mould growth, particularly in upper floors or areas prone to condensation like washrooms and kitchens. This often indicates a ventilation deficiency or a persistent external leak. Remedial work requires identifying the source, not just painting over the patch.
- Window Seals and Glazing: Check window frames and seals for gaps or failed double-glazing units (indicated by condensation between the panes). Drafts from these gaps significantly impact heating efficiency and thermal comfort in classrooms.
- Flooring and Wall Integrity: Inspect high-traffic areas for loose floor tiles, worn linoleum, or damaged skirting boards. A damaged floor is both a trip hazard and an entry point for moisture.
Strategic Planning for Major Fabric Works
While smaller fabric repairs can be executed during half-term, projects involving significant structural work, or large-scale re-roofing must be strategically scheduled. We advise clients to utilise the long summer break for these critical, disruptive works. This long window allows time not only for the primary repair but also for the subsequent finishing work – allowing paint to fully cure or new flooring to settle – before students return.
By planning the largest fabric interventions strategically, we eliminate risk, maximise contractor efficiency, and guarantee the highest quality outcome, securing the building’s integrity for the rest of the school year. Now is the time to pay attention to any work that may become apparent as winter sets in, so that you can plan budgets from now to allow work to be completed in the spring and summer holidays.
Cost vs. Expertise: Justifying the External Specialist
One common internal discussion for any school is the trade-off between employing full-time maintenance staff and engaging expert external contractors. While an in-house team is invaluable for day-to-day fixes, relying on them for major, complex refurbishment work often proves to be a false economy. The core reason is expertise and scalability.
An in-house team may lack the specific NICEIC electrical accreditation required for a new science lab fit-out, or the specialist plumbing knowledge needed for a full washroom system overhaul. Using FPM, you immediately gain access to multi-trade expertise, allowing us to simultaneously deploy accredited plumbers, electricians, decorators, and builders. This means the project is not only completed faster, but it is completed correctly, meeting all statutory compliance from day one. In the long run, paying an expert contractor for a finite, high-quality project during non-term time saves significant costs compared to maintaining a large, multi-skilled, and often under-utilised internal team year-round, ensuring every pound spent delivers maximum return on investment.
Our Project Approach: Quality Work in a Quiet Space
At FPM Facility Services, our experience working with schools means we treat the holiday period with the respect it deserves, understanding that your deadline is absolute. Our process is built around precision and quality:
- Pre-Planning and Procurement: Every project is meticulously planned weeks in advance, down to the last screw. All materials are ordered and often delivered ahead of time, eliminating downtime and allowing our teams to start work immediately on day one of the closure.
- In-House Expertise: We rely on our own directly employed, DBS-checked contractors. This is crucial. It means we have immediate control over quality, scheduling, and safety standards, especially when integrating complex electrical and mechanical elements into a fit-out. You are never waiting for a sub-contractor to show up.
- Clean Handover: We guarantee a clean, complete handover. Our focus is on returning the facility to you in a pristine condition, fully certified, functional, and ready for occupation before the school year resumes.
From comprehensive refurbishments to the complex re-routing of pipework and electrics, we manage the entire project lifecycle with a single point of contact, ensuring straight answers, solid timelines, and proven delivery.
Seize the Opportunity: Plan Your Next Transformation
That brief period of quiet is the most powerful tool in your facilities calendar. Don’t let it go to waste on reactive fixes. Use the next non-term period to deliver the transformative projects that elevate your school environment, enhance safety, and support the quality of education you strive to deliver. Maintained learning environments help your students to learn better.
If you are planning a refurbishment, fit-out, or end-of-lease dilapidation work that requires strategic timing, we invite you to contact us.
Let’s start planning now to ensure your project is completed flawlessly, on time, and without disrupting the crucial business of learning.
Contact us today!
Tel: 01582 484020
Mail: service@f-p-m.co.uk
