Schools, colleges and universities are rarely empty. Even during the holidays, staff, contractors and sometimes students remain on site, meaning construction work must be planned around live operation, not the other way round. This year that challenge has intensified, with structural safety concerns, funding pressure and rising pupil numbers all unfolding while buildings stay in use.

What everyone’s talking about:

• Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and other legacy defects continue to emerge through condition surveys, often requiring emergency intervention rather than planned maintenance.
• Capital allocations such as Condition Improvement Funding (CIF) are increasingly competitive, and schools need a solid case to secure and defend the spend.
• Safety-critical work can’t always wait for a holiday closure; many projects must be delivered while a building remains open and occupied.
• Expanding schools and universities need additional teaching space delivered without disrupting the pupils and staff already on site.

How Potter Raper supports clients through this change

At Potter Raper, our approach is simple: We listen to our clients, solve challenges with tailored solutions, and deliver exceptional results.

As a construction consultancy with extensive experience in education, we plan around the academic calendar and the realities of a live site from day one, working closely with estates teams, contractors and safeguarding leads to keep disruption and maintain safe, operational campuses.

Delivering education projects without disruption

• University College London – delivering a summer refresh programme across 35 buildings on the Bloomsbury campus, including common areas, kitchens and student accommodation, all while the wider university continued to operate.
• Bromley High School for Girls’ Day School Trust – managing emergency RAAC removal and roof replacement works on a safety-critical timetable.
• Mulberry Academy London Dock for Tower Hamlets Council – supporting the delivery a new five-storey secondary school on a constrained urban site, built around car parking, utilities and a sports hall.

Each project has required on a different mix of our services, but the same underlying discipline: understanding the operational constraints before the programme is set, not after.

Our core services for education include:

• Project Management & Employer’s Agent
• Quantity Surveying
• Due Diligence & Fund Monitoring
• Building Surveying & Technical Design
• Health, Safety & Environmental Services
• Fire Safety & CDM Advisor Services
• Building Regulations Principal Designer Services
• Sustainability, Decarbonisation & Retrofit

Delivering certainty for schools and universities

Education buildings rarely get to stand empty during construction. Delivering with confidence in that environment takes more than technical expertise, it takes a partner who understands how national pressures, from RAAC to funding, translate into project-level realities.

We Listen. Solve. Deliver.

We help our education clients move forward with confidence.

Visit our education page to learn more about our work in this sector and to get in touch with our team: https://potterraper.co.uk/sectors/education/