Victorian redbrick buildings good for kids and community

The Victorian Society and English Heritage are standing up for 19th century school buildings.

Few of the UK's estimated 3,000 Victorian school buildings are listed or in conservation areas, and there is growing concern that the Government's £45bn Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme - which aims to rebuild or renew every secondary school in England by 2030 - will lead to wide-scale demolition.

The Government line is that old buildings are 'not fit for purpose', but conservationists argue that they are 'sound and sturdy' compared to typical modern designs, which are dismissed as 'low-ceiling boxes'.

Support for maintaining the Victorian structures is growing. They create a 'richer environment for children,' according to Bob Wallbridge, assistant head of architecture for Hampshire, where refurbishment is being preferred over new-build.

However, the majority of affection for 19th century school buildings seems to come from the people most directly affected - parents and children.

Bonner Street School in Tower Hamlets, east London (built 1876) was saved earlier this year after community outcry. But the youngest conservationist is probably Susannah Page, who launched the successful campaign to save Gilthill Primary School in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire when she was only eleven.

While still in Year Six, Susannah put the cat amongst the architectural pigeons by defending the 'good strong building' in a letter to the Eastwood & Kimberley Advertiser, adding '... children like the building, and it seems it is only being knocked down to make a car park and part of the playground'.

Whilst the 18-month campaign has paid off, Susannah has moved on to bigger things - she is now too old to attend the primary school that she so lovingly defended!

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