School boarding house design originated in a different era with different priorities: privacy, comfort and wellbeing were definitely not the watchwords of the Victorian and Edwardian school pioneers of public and prep schools!

How to design and build those facilities in today’s environment must carefully consider the pupil experience, making boarding as comfortable as possible: we are not just talking compliance with the NMS for boarding here, but providing a truly home-from-home offering.

Many existing boarding facilities are conversions of domestic accommodation, whilst others have been purpose-built; whilst the less well-informed have been predicting the demise of boarding, schools both senior and preparatory have been continuing to redevelop with a number building brand new facilities from scratch to be truly fit for the 21st century and beyond.

Subordinate to creating a happy and inviting space for the pupils are consideration of the educational purchaser, the parents, and the provider, the school staff. Having a strong visual image of comfortable surroundings helps to give parents confidence and reassurance; from the staff perspective, managing the boarding experience and supervising pupils sensitively yet effectively is vitally important. Many of these issues are dependent on the age of the pupils; for example, boarding facilities for younger pupils often require additional thought given to decoration, or even themed rooms – but beware gender stereotyping!

Clearly a key constraint in any project is financial, but this must include an appreciation of the cost of not improving facilities, which can lead to falling demand. One crucial question is the extent to which the asset will be in use outside of school terms, for example for language schools or revision courses,and what is needed to make this viable. For example, if school staff are given permanent accommodation, then additional rooms with private ablution facilities will be required for visiting supervising staff.

Connected with this is the most important question – the number of beds per room. Whilst they hold a traditional appeal for a few, for most the era of large dormitories is well past. Equally, single rooms are seen as something of a luxury, or at least a privilege for the oldest pupils, in many schools.

Finding a balance should again consider additional holiday usage: one innovative solution I have seen involves ‘pull-down’ bunk beds used only for this purpose. Then you must consider what additional space is needed in the rooms for study and social purposes and, of course, the all-important question of storage space.

Another fundamental consideration regards bathroom facilities. For those schools reconfiguring existing spaces, the concept of en suite may be impossible, and for others the cost may be prohibitive – and you have to remember that more bathrooms mean more cleaning hours! However, where possible, en suite facilities can provide greater levels of privacy and independence, and reduce night-time footfall around the house!

The nature, size and use of common areas has to be carefully considered: will pupils eat in house? Will that just be a continental breakfast, or are kitchen facilities whether for the pupils or for catering staff required? Are separate common room areas for pupils of different ages necessary, or do you want one cinema room, one games room and so on? Do you want pupils to have the facility to do their own laundry? For the encouragement of independence in older pupils, this is often considered to be valuable training to the extent that, in one school we have visited, the oldest pupils have washing machines in their bedrooms.