A new era for education estates?
The first half of 2026 has been a busy one in the world of education estates – with keeping on top of the latest DfE updates becoming another task added to the ever-expanding to-do list for those working in schools and colleges.
In this article, Sewell Advisory’s education expert Nikola Idle breaks down the changes, what they say, what they actually mean and, most importantly, what you need to do as a result.
First up, the main event – the Department for Education’s 10-year estates strategy, entitled “A Decade of National Renewal”.
This publication was launched in February and set both the tone and direction of travel for all subsequent publications and guidance refreshers that followed in quick succession. At its heart is a commitment to enabling more long-term thinking and decision making, moving the sector from a reactive to proactive approach that delivers well-managed estate that is safe, suitable, sustainable and sufficiently sized.
Importantly, this shift is not just about condition and compliance. It underpins a wider move towards more inclusive mainstream provision – with new guidance on inclusion bases beginning to set out how this ambition will be delivered in practice.
Its three core chapters explain the fundamental pillars of good estate management, or rather where changes and investment will be made to deliver that aspirational vision.
Managing the Estate
Clarifies the expectations of Responsible Bodies (RBs) to proactively and effectively manage their estates, launching a new digital service, introducing annual returns on compliance against the School Estate Management Standards (SEMS) and providing guidance on the better use of surplus land.
Improving and Renewing the Estate
Focuses on how buildings in poor (but not the worst) condition should be effectively managed or replaced to avoid falling into (worse) disrepair, through the abolition of the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) and launching new funding streams that will tackle these “middle ground” projects.
It also sets out additional funding streams to deliver more inclusive mainstream settings and help address the ever-increasing gap between supply and demand for specialist places.
This is where we are seeing a clear shift in practice – with increasing expectations that mainstream schools will provide targeted SEND provision on-site, rather than relying solely on specialist placements.
Building and Rebuilding the Estate
Designed to address those buildings in the worst condition, through an expansion of the DfE’s self-delivered school rebuilding programme. This will also deliver expansion and capacity-based programmes to address capacity issues at all stages and phases, targeted on a local basis where they are needed.
Since its publication the DfE has largely stayed true to its word in releasing additional or refreshed guidance that provides further details as to how these changes will work in practice and what RBs need to do next.
Significant highlights include:
- Commissioning a Condition Survey
The new strategy makes it clear (if it wasn’t before) that RBs should maintain up-to-date condition survey on all their assets – and the DfE’s own CDC programme information does not count.
Historically, not all condition surveys have been equal, so this guidance tries to level the playing field and ensure a consistent baseline set of information is held. Given the introduction of annual returns later this year, and the new digital platform, it is not a stretch to imagine that future funding decisions might (at least in part) try to rank this apple-with-apples data to make “fairer” allocations.
- Manage Your Education Estate
DfE’s new digital platform went live in April 2026. It is intended to be a one-stop-shop and source of information between the DfE and RBs to cover resources and guidance, viewing condition data and funding allocation and exploring funding opportunities.
- Improve and renew your long-term estates plan
This guidance sets out a seven-step approach for how to turn your survey data into a strategic plan for your estate.
It addresses how to plan, prioritise and deliver improvements that respond to the core themes of the ten-year plan – condition, suitability, resilience and decarbonisation – in a clear, logical and proportionate way.
What it did not yet fully do is provide a clear blueprint for how emerging priorities, such as inclusion bases, should be integrated – but the newly launched Inclusion bases guidance fills in this gap.
- Renewal and retrofit programme
This £710m funding stream was launched in the ten-year strategy with further information on selection and delivery being released recently. Importantly schools will NOT bid into the programme instead they will be invited to take part. This is a strong signal around the importance of RBs having and sharing up to date validated information around their estates rather than relying on a competitive approach focussed on who can produce the best application.
What should I do first?
It’s a lot to take in – and even harder to find the time out of the day job to reflect on where to start or what to do next.
If you haven’t already, then creating your account and logging onto the Manage Your Education Estate portal would be a good first step – checking the information held is correct and familiarising yourself with the platform and resources available.
Our next port of call thereafter would be to ensure you have a clear understanding of where you currently benchmark against the School Estate Management Standards.
This multi-faceted appraisal will consider your approach to estate management through several lenses – leadership and governance, availability and accuracy of information, strategic planning, workforce capacity and capability, amongst others.
Once you have established what level you are currently operating at, a quick gap analysis will also provide you with a clear roadmap to reach the next level – with DfE expecting all RBs to achieve Level 3 as a minimum.
All RBs will be expected to submit a return to DfE this autumn – so benchmarking now and giving yourself a good run in to make any or some of the required actions in advance will stand you in good stead for an honest and accurate assessment later.
Need help navigating the new policies?
If you need any support with completing your SEMS self-assessment, commissioning surveys or creating your own long-term plan – including assessing and planning for inclusion base provision within your estate – the education experts at Sewell Advisory can help.