EDUCATION SEPP AND CHILD CARE GUIDELINES

Child care and education infrastructure lays the foundations for our children’s learning from their earliest years through to their adult careers. Smith & Tzannes were engaged by the Department of Planning and the NSW Government Architect to provide design advice on the new State Environmental Planning Policy (Educational Establishments and Childcare Facilities) 2017 (SEPP).

Based on our experience in the design of child care facilities and design policy we undertook background research in collaboration with the Department of Education on the Child Care Planning Guidelines. The Guideline contains key national requirements for planning and design guidance for child care facilities and will generally prevail over local development control plans. Quality design is a key focus of the planning improvements to ensure that new educational infrastructure enhances communities, delivers greater energy efficiency and contributes to healthy lifestyles for children.

The Education SEPP introduces guidelines and design requirements for schools to ensure that faciltiies are well-designed, appropriately located and fit for purpose. The design qualities principles in the SEPP aim to ensure that the design of school infrastructure repsonds appropriately to the character of the area, landscaping setting and surrounding built form to ensure that schools and school buildings are an integral part of the community.

We also assisted the Government Architect in providing content for the Design Guide for Schools that supports the Design Quality Principles in the SEPP and acts as a best practice manual to support the delivery of good school design across NSW.

Download the Guidelines here:
Child Care Planning Guidelines
Design Guide for Schools