Wrap Up Your School Refit With Futia - June 2010

The Challenge: To complete a full refurbishment project for Oakwood Primary School in Plymouth, which remained open whilst the school buildings were being rebuilt.  As part of Plymouth County Council’s “Southern Way Federation”, Oakwood, a community primary school with 282 pupils, had been identified as needing to improve poor schools buildings, fixtures and fittings in order to accommodate an increase in pupil numbers. Oakwood caters for mixed abilities so its fixtures and fittings had to be flexible and allow the teaching staff to take account of different learning styles and needs.The school also wanted to ensure the interior matched up to the beautiful new building, to deliver a light, fresh, bright, clean and stimulating learning environment.  

Futia worked closely with building contractor Interserve, the school’s head and senior management team and Plymouth County Council to recommend furnishing and fixtures to provide a positive learning environment and attract more pupils. Futia was allocated 80% of the loose furniture budget. 

Mark Herrington, Futia Manager, expands: “The challenges for school refurbishments are different to those of new builds. Requirements evolved as the building took shape which made effective communications between the school, the council and Interserve essential to make sure all the furniture and fixtures we were suggesting met the proposed style of the building, within budget. We provided 150 different types of items ranging from tables and chairs to play equipment and even a fire safe.”

Herrington continues: “Building works are notoriously expensive and however tightly managed can always throw up hidden costs. We were pleased to be able to work with everyone involved and make good cost savings. For example, we were delighted to find some lower cost wooden storage lockers that are much softer and easier to use for younger children than metal ones. We also surprised the school by finding well priced, high quality learning-through-play equipment, such as easels, dressing up stands and play tables, previously disregarded as unachievable with their budget.”

In summary, Futia’s involvement was both strategic and day-to-day:

• Recommending styles of loose furniture and equipment in response to an initial brief 

• Working with different groups to establish a final schedule of goods

• Negotiating best prices, products and alternatives with over 30 different suppliers

• Securing delivery dates to meet two deadlines of April and September to arrive in time, alongside the completion of buildings works

• Receiving, checking and in some cases assembling furnishings before labeling by item, description and room location for delivery

• Communicating effectively with the school, building contractor, architect and Head Teacher.

• Meeting deadlines to enable the school to stay operational

“Futia has proved to be an outstanding service provider in the area of school fixture and fitting provision. The team has worked hard to involve numerous different individuals and groups, as well as sourcing some very specific furniture to meet their needs. They have also been able to give us good design solutions to ensure services are fully integrated around fixtures and fittings.”
Les Allen, Portfolio Manager at Plymouth County Council

FUTIA AIDS BUILDING SCHOOLS FOR THE FUTURE - DECEMBER 2009

The surroundings in which children learn can greatly influence both their academic performance and personal sense of well-being at school. Futia from The Consortium, the UK’s award-winning independent supplier of resources to schools, provides a new one-stop shop service to help schools easily and successfully find the vital, unique finishing touches to any room in the school from classrooms to canteens and staff rooms to libraries. This reinforces any investment schools make in their buildings.

The Consortium has already supplied over £5 million worth of furniture and equipment into projects since 2006, including interior pieces of storage furniture, chairs, computer tables and pods and specially designed school lunchtime seats as well as exterior items like playground equipment and bike racks.

This helps contribute to a healthier, happier and more effective learning environment in different schools and colleges across the UK.Teaching methods may have changed over the years but in many schools and colleges the same old chairs, tables and building infrastructure remains. Over the past year Futia has shown how major refurbishment projects can benefit from some simple, high quality furniture and equipment solutions that improve the basic aspects of the school environment such as effective storage, display boards and comfortable, supportive seating.  

Of course, any commitment to refurbishment is time and cost intensive. Futia offers project management from initial design concept to sourcing hard to find products from its database of over 400 approved suppliers, through to the delivery and installation. This alleviates the hassle of researching fixtures and fittings and allows schools to continue with the vital task of teaching and creating a positive learning environment.  

The Consortium’s Chief Executive Melanie Teal said: “We set up Futia in response to the £45 billion Government investment in secondary schools and the growing desire to create first class learning environments for pupils as well as a good professional environment for staff to work in.  The response to Futia from schools has already been very positive as we have been able to provide a one-stop shop service for furniture, fixtures and fittings that works in partnership with architects and construction companies as well as being supported by the same committed, vibrant and innovative service ethic that has made The Consortium such a success.”

EASY TIPS TO AN IMPROVED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT                                            
From Futia Manager, Mark Herrington

Refresh the traditional:  Many schools have inherited older chairs and furnishings that force children to sit in rows, or worse still on chairs that are too small for them or don’t provide the correct posture, which is not conducive to working hard. As a solution we have worked with suppliers to provide seating which can easily be used across all age groups, in different areas of the school, and which encourages the correct posture. This level of comfort aids learning by increasing concentration levels and improves long term health. Some children find the traditional school buildings institutional and imposing, so one way we have tackled this is to look at different floor and wall surface textures which break up spaces and make large buildings feel less daunting.

Use display to welcome pupils and visitors: Clear, consistent and logical signposting and displays is another simple way to make a building feel friendly and welcome. The more attractive, well-lit and colour co-ordinated classrooms are, the better pupils will feel. A well-cared for and designed classroom can also make pupils feel a sense of achievement on entering the room.  

Of course, any commitments to building work can be time and cost intensive. Futia offers complete project management from initial design concept to sourcing hard to find products from its database of over 400 approved suppliers, and finally through to the delivery and installation stages. This alleviates the hassle of researching fixtures and fittings and allows schools to continue with the vital task of teaching and creating a positive learning environment. 

The Education Resource Awards are supported by trade association, The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA). Each category is judged by a panel of independent education experts including classroom teachers. On selecting a winner, the judging panel focus on the ways in which different suppliers provide effective resources, services and people to support schools.

The Consortium stood out for its ability to offer a wide range of products that support school life, whilst maintaining consistently high levels of customer service. Particularly commended was its recent development to support colour blind friendly printing as well as an impressive commitment to sustainability.

Melanie Teal, The Consortium's chief executive said: "For any company to win such a prestigious award as this one requires a total commitment to customer focus, therefore we are delighted to be chosen as the best in our field, and to be recognised for our company's ideals. We have set out to provide education establishments, including pre-school and further education, with a great product offering based on our commitment to sustainability, and fabulous service which results in happy customers."

Ray Barker of BESA concluded: "What makes these awards different is that they focus on resources, services and the people that really make an impact on learning and the day to day work of teachers in the classroom. I would like to congratulate The Consortium on winning this Supplier of the Year award."