Design review

Schools design panel

Provides independent advice on proposals for new and refurbished secondary schools as part of Building Schools for the Future.

The panel scores schemes against the 10 assessment criteria and gives an overall design quality rating for each scheme. From late 2009 all schemes will be subject to a minimum design standard - proposals that fail to meet the standard will not be built.

Panel members include architects as well as practitioners with more general experience in education.

Submitting your scheme

If you are submitting a scheme, read how the panel works to understand the process, explore our guide to meeting the criteria to ensure that your proposal answers the right questions and see examples of effective graphic approaches to help you with your presentation to the panel.

You can also download Successful school design - our publication to help you through the whole process.