Awards to be Launched at Conference on Effective Design in FE Colleges

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The Learning Skills Council (LSC) and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) are again working together to hold a conference themed on “Design for an Effective Learner Experience- What makes FE Different?” on the 21st of March, 2006 at the RIBA in London.

The LSC/RIBA Awards are being launched in recognition of the integration FE can encourage and will be given to the applicant with the highest levels of innovation, adaptability, design excellence and inducing within learners and staff a “feel-good factor.” The LSC has been established since 2001 to attain a single, but significant goal: to ensure that both young people and adults acquire world-class vocational skills, by 2010.

Invitation to Review

Furthermore, architects, designers and college managers are being invited to review how the design and architecture of FE colleges is becoming integral in creating a stimulating and conducive environment for learners. Chris Banks, Chairman of the LSC and Barry Sheerman MP, Chair of the Education and Skills Select Committee, will be addressing the conference and also launching a new award scheme to recognise excellent design projects by FE colleges.

“Our forthcoming conference with RIBA, will both celebrate some of the most impressive and innovative designs to date, explain the positive effect they have had on both learners and staff and pave the way for future developments,” commented the Infrastructure and Property Director at the LSC, Phillip Head. According to Mr. Head, the LSC itself has “approved grants of just under £1 billion to support 524 building projects in the learning and skills sector, worth a total of 3.2 billion.”

FE colleges play a crucial role in achieving this goal and, therefore, the construction and design of these educational institutions becomes an important factor in inculcating creativity and stimulation for both learners and staff. Hence, the RIBA, which has been promoting architectural talent since 1837, is working with the LSC to bring to fruition their goals and creating a greater scope for the FE community to liase with the architecture industry.

Sudakshina Mukherjee

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