A school for the 21st century

Bexley Academy in the London Borough of Bexley is the first of a new breed of teaching 'academies' - technologically advanced secondary modern schools designed to be the standard bearers for the Government's radical new education policies.

The Academy provides an enlightened curriculum where students follow the full range of GCSE subjects and the International Baccalaureat, along with vocational subjects in the sixth form. The emphasis is very much on enjoyment through innovative teaching - and students have the opportunity to learn in the best and most technologically advanced environment available today.

Bexley is one of 12 academies now open. A further 25 are at planning stage, and the Government's ambition is for at least 50 academies within the next four years - all in areas of poor educational performance, many of them replacing weak or failing schools.

This 'school of the future', as described by Prime Minister Tony Blair when he opened the building in 2003, was designed by the world-renowned architect Sir Norman Foster. So what sets Bexley apart from other secondary modern schools? In addition to the innovative curriculum, state of the art facilities and unprecedented links with business and industry, the teaching spaces at Bexley are simply that - spaces. The two storeys of 'classrooms' are open plan and separated from each other by partition walls. But there is no partition between the classroom and the central atrium on to which they open. As such, the building's design is more akin to a corporate office structure.

Fire safety challenges

Such a radical design presents a number of challenges, not least in relation to fire safety, which were identified at the drawing board stage by the architectural and structural engineering team. Clearly, the open teaching spaces could not of themselves contain any fire and there was an obvious risk that it could spread between adjacent teaching areas and out into the central atrium where it would have unimpeded access to the entire building.

It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that the proposed design raised serious concerns among Bexley Borough's Building Control Department and the local fire authority. The building's design did not comply with standard Building Codes and due to the absence of an automatic fire suppression system the design team had to demonstrate that a fire safety engineered solution could provide an equivalent level of protection to the building and its occupants.

Without traditional, passive protection the building would require active fire protection measures, including sophisticated alarm systems, automatic smoke vents and door locks. Any fire would need to be rapidly identified and suppressed, preventing it from spreading to other areas of the building.

But it became clear that at the heart of any fire safety engineered solution lay the human factor. The fire protection systems would require regular monitoring and testing and staff would need to be fully conversive with their operation. They would also need to demonstrate that they could manage a successful evacuation in the event of an emergency.

Risk assessment

The enforcing authorities therefore proposed that the Academy carry out a detailed risk assessment before it could give the building its seal of approval and allow it to admit students. The design team turned to Solutions Fire Safety, who assigned experienced fire safety consultant Neil Townsend to the project. Neil - an ex-fire Officer - was in charge of the London Fire Brigade's Engineering Group at the time the original design proposal of the Bexley Academy, so was well acquainted with the issues.

In order to carry out the fire risk assessment, the Solutions' consultancy team developed a detailed fire risk matrix which explored a number of possible scenarios, ranging from a discarded cigarette end to a major fire incident. Possible outcomes and the control measures required to contain any fire were then plotted on it.

The risk assessment demonstrated the importance of ensuring the correct functioning of the fire control systems and staff knowledge/awareness. It also demonstrated the need for a fire safety manual to ensure that staff were fully aware of their responsibilities in managing an emergency. The risk assessment also highlighted other management issues, including the necessity to safely evacuate disabled people, and the importance of setting realistic deadlines to ensure that all the recommendations were carried out in time for the Academy's opening in September 2003.

Another area of concern was the use of the central atrium areas for arts and design and technology activities - a rich supply of combustible materials! This was solved by recommending that these areas be clearly delineated by the use of floor markers to ensure a 'sterile' space between them and the other teaching areas.

As a next step, Solutions developed a fire safety manual for the building and carried out a series of training workshops with staff. A 'buddy' scheme was implemented to ensure that every disabled pupil had at least two colleagues who would help them in the event of an emergency.

A major incident could have a significant impact on the future functioning of the Academy and the students' academic studies and so another recommendation covered the development and implementation of a disaster recovery plan.

Testing the fire safety plan's effectiveness

During the first term, a series of fire exercises were undertaken, followed by a full, unannounced evacuation of the building. As a measure of the success of the fire safety plan, all pupils and staff were safely evacuated within a laudable two and a half minutes. However, important lessons were learned during the evacuation exercise.

Understandably, security was high on the Academy staff's agenda, which led to a policy of locking external doors, without staff realising that this effectively disarmed the fire control system which automatically unlocked all doors in the event of the fire alarm being activated. This led to a change of approach and a tighter policy on managing visitors.

To ensure the continued smooth running of the fire control plan, Solutions recommended that fire risk assessments should be undertaken on a regular basis.

As a result of the work undertaken by Neil and the Solutions Fire Safety team at Bexley Academy, the consultancy is to advise on the construction of a new primary school adjacent to the site.

For further information on the full range of Solutions Fire Safety services, please call 0845 601 2632 or e-mail info@solutionsfiresafety.co.uk.