Six priorities every education estate leader needs on their agenda

Planning your 2026–27 estate programme starts now.

The DfE's Education Estates Strategy commits the largest sustained capital investment in the education estate since 2010. New funding models, new data standards, and live deadlines all land within the next twelve months. How you act now will shape how much of that capital your organisation can access.

You may be asking:

• How do the different budgets differ, and what does that mean for my SEND provision?
• What does the SEMS return ask of us, and how will our submission affect future funding?
• Is our maintenance spend costing us more than a planned programme would?
• How do we prioritise capital fairly across multiple schools and make the case at board level?
• How does planning twelve months ahead make our six-week summer window work harder?
• Could our energy spend fund a retrofit programme, and how do we get selected for one?

Download The London and South East Education Estates Report 2026.