A report by the Audit Commission has revealed that the first group of schools commissioned under the Private Finance Initiative did not live up to the promise of better quality buildings, and had not been built any quicker than traditionally funded projects.
The report compared a sample of traditionally funded schools with 17 out of the 25 early PFI schools. It concluded that not were all below 'best practice' in terms of their technical quality, but also that the PFI schools were "statistically speaking, significantly worse."

Criticisms in the report of the PFI schools were that there was "little evidence of design innovation and some users were critical of things like classroom size and layout." The report added, though, that all users did prefer their new school to their old.

The Commission highlights the need for providers to learn from past PFI projects to gain better understanding of client needs, and that users should be involved at the detailed design stage to ensure the specifications match their requirements.

Audit Commission Chairman James Strachan said: "PFI still has huge potential to help improve the quality of the schools. But early experience shows that contracts need to be more tightly negotiated and that design must reflect the needs of school users. The early PFI schools have not been built cheaper, better, or quicker and learning from this early experience is critical."

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Building Sustainable Design