George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor and architect of austerity, used to accuse his Labour predecessors of “failing to mend the roof while the sun was shining”.
Government spending is up in cash terms, in inflation adjusted terms, as a percentage of GDP.
What austerity?
I thought at the time that George Osborne had been very canny in promoting the idea of austerity yet not actually imposing it. This masterful kicking the can down the road just makes the job of following Governments more difficult.
But he didn’t cancel the Olympics, he instigated HS2, increased spending on choo-choos, and failed to deal with both the immigration and the chav problems.
School roofs are just a sign of how shit all government is. People knew this was a problem over a decade ago. A well run organisation would have collected information, got them fixed at the start of the summer holidays.
They should have borrowed more while rates were low, obviously.
Western Bloke
The government could hire the Saudis to fix the immigration problem. And I suppose Singapore could handle the chav nonsense.
Western Bloke: When I was chair of a school’s Site & Premises governors’ group, that’s exactly what we did. We’d have a site walk-around at about Easter and draw up a schedule of stuff to do over the summer break, prioritising structural works and stuff you needed to shut the site down for.
George Osborne was too clever by half. Most of his clever clever wheezes have turned to shite. Team him up with Cameron – sharing the proceeds of growth, without the growth part – and a lot of the crap we are now in started with them. He promoted Treason May for Pete’s sake.
“A well run organisation would have collected information, got them fixed at the start of the summer holidays”
Given just about half of civil servants disappear on holiday the moment the school holidays start, how likely is that? Remember when the UK evacuation from Afghanistan was hamstrung because the senior Foreign Office civil servant had gone on holiday and there was no way of recalling him?
I’ll guarantee the reason nothing was done until early September was that most of the people who would have been tasked with doing the admin of such a program of works during the school holidays was on holiday. So of course the children suffer a disrupted education, because nothing can ever be allowed to disrupt a civil servant’s easy life.
“I’ll guarantee the reason nothing was done until early September was that most of the people who would have been tasked with doing the admin of such a program of works during the school holidays was on holiday.”
This is something that’s been known about for a decade. And the reason is simply a lack of incentives. No one gets fired for fucking up.
Everything the government touches turns to crap. Let’s hope we don’t go to war and find out the armed services are too.
I thought at the time that George Osborne wws an idiot for promoting the idea of austerity. He had a clear opportunity to slash & burn public sector, quangos, fake charities, gift-aid etc: keep waving Labour’s “There’s no money left” note and promote efficiency and eliminating waste
Instead, by declaring austerity, he gave Labour and msm a giant hammer to attack him & Conservatives with for no gain even though he did not do it
Now we see why: he, like Hammond, Sunak, Hunt are tax and spend socialists who don’t care if Labour replaces them. All their taxes are politics of envy to please left
When I was chair of a school’s Site & Premises governors’ group, that’s exactly what we did. We’d have a site walk-around at about Easter and draw up a schedule of stuff to do over the summer break, prioritising structural works and stuff you needed to shut the site down for.
Mmmm… Someone else with academic qualifications. Went over this subject in a recent comment. Problem being john77’s much shared illusion that all buildings are built for eternity. This method of construction has a very short design life. Which can be extended by remedial works. Which in this case would mean the regular replacement of the entire water resistant roof covering.* And that’s simply not anything that’s going to fit in with “a schedule of stuff to do over the summer break, prioritising structural works and stuff you needed to shut the site down for.” Or that sort of budget.You’re talking about major works requiring a considerable lead time at a cost a considerable proportion of the original building.
This is something that’s been known about for a decade.
This has been known about ever since this construction method was adopted. It’s perfectly adequate for short life buildings. Sort of things get put up on retail & industrial parks which are expected to be regularly replaced. It’s the economic solution to that requirement. It’s not an economic solution for buildings with open ended design requirements. The costs of replacing the roof coverings at regular intervals are greater than building structures with longer lifed roofs. But that does mean a very different structure. The advantage of the construction method is its light weight reduces the need for supporting structural strength.
*Repairs. Yes maybe you could extend life by regular inspections & repairs. Maybe. Problem with repairs is one can never be 100% certain that they’ve worked. That you’ve repaired the right area or done it successfully. Once water gets through a roof covering it travels. The leak you think you’re trying to repair could be the other side of the roof. If it doesn’t work, you haven’t achieved anything but you don’t know it.
Exactly the same’s true for the three layer felt flat roof you may have on your house. They’re good for about 15 years. Past that it’s Lady Luck. If water gets into the roof covering, you’ll often see bubbles. That’s the heat of the sun vaporising the water & causing a pressure build-up will, over time, delaminate the roof covering.
And no, telling me your flat roof has been perfectly for 60 years doesn’t change that. It’s the technical limits of the construction method. If you wanted a graph it would start fairly steep as poorly constructed roofs failed early, followed by a rising plateau would gradually get steeper from the 15 year mark. You’ll be somewhere on that graph.
And you could do similar for every roof ever constructed, flat or pitched.
@ bis
You may think that your eartly lifetime is for eternity but I don’t think mine is.
Interesting subject there, John. I may have made a reasonable start on my eighth decade but I’ve little intention of completing it. Just not interested in the diaper years. I was constructed with design life as well.
BiS: Our school was a 1960s glass&steel construction, with some traditional brick wings. We knew it wasn’t going to last forever. Part of our long-term maintainance plan was demolition and replacement. One summer we replaced the whole flat roof of one wing. We had drawn up a four-year plan to replace all the windows when the LEA offered the opportunity to demolish and rebuild, which we seized with all hands. We had our 50th anniversary celebration just before closing down, which was the expected lifetime of the buildings.
In contrast, my primary school was built in 1905 out of stone and slate, and is still standing.
‘This has been known about ever since this construction method was adopted. It’s perfectly adequate for short life buildings. Sort of things get put up on retail & industrial parks which are expected to be regularly replaced. It’s the economic solution to that requirement. It’s not an economic solution for buildings with open ended design requirements. The costs of replacing the roof coverings at regular intervals are greater than building structures with longer lifed roofs. But that does mean a very different structure. The advantage of the construction method is its light weight reduces the need for supporting structural strength.”
I think it’s actually better to think shorter term about buildings (like 30 years) because it’s so hard to plan beyond that.
I think it’s actually better to think shorter term about buildings (like 30 years) because it’s so hard to plan beyond that.
This is what people have always done. Buildings are built to supply a need. And there’s a limit to predictability of needs, the further you look into the future.
In contrast, my primary school was built in 1905 out of stone and slate, and is still standing.
That’s more likely to be a reflection of the materials & labour capabilities of the time as anything else. It was the economic decision then. Yes, buildings using those construction methods can have remarkably long serviceable lives. Of course, one would have to know the complete repair, modification & maintenance history of the structure to judge the economics of it.
But there’s also the supplying of a need. The needs in 2023 are going to be somewhat different than they were in 1905. As they were no doubt different in 1950 & 1980. What’s been spent on the place to bring it to conform with the current needs throughout its history? How close to matching current needs is it now?.
Buildings are very prone to the sunk cost fallacy. Because at all times during their life their managers can only foresee a limited time ahead. And managers tend to be concentrating their own personal futures when making decisions.