The survey will also identify any areas of concern which require immediate further investigation, such as structural issues, and arrangements will be made for safe access and / or intrusive access to allow examination of the construction. The building appraisals will generally be undertaken from ground level and where safe access is available, will also inspect any flat and pitched roof areas of the school estate and any void areas. The full condition survey will be based on a visual, non-intrusive examination of the accessible building fabric and building services including external areas but will not include those parts of the structure or its services which are built in, covered up and made inaccessible in the normal course of construction, fitting out or occupation. The condition rating should also take into account information from routine inspections by other suitably qualified and experienced staff, and concerns expressed by users. There is no change from the previous guidance that a full condition survey of the school estate should be carried out at least every five years. Suitably qualified and experienced personnel should oversee this survey. In accordance with the Core Facts guidance, the condition rating should be based on the local authority’s condition survey. The record should also note any amendments made to the overall school condition rating arrived at by the standard process. As a minimum, this should reference the process used and document the sources of input data, the names and roles of the participants, the date when the condition review was completed, and the condition categories assigned to each of the major elements and to the school as a whole. In addition, an evidence-based auditable record of that process and its results should be maintained. Local authorities should have a stated system setting out their process for assigning condition categories to schools which adopts this guidance.

Excel file metadata or latent data