| Author(s) | Talal Abdulrahman Al-Raddadi |
| Affiliation | Assistant Professor, College of Architectural and Planning King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Title | The Feasibility Study of the Cost Reduction |
| Source | Journal of King Saud University. Architecture & Planning. Volume 15, No 1. (2003/1423) |
| Abstract | The Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia establishes many schools every year, but very less number of schools were constructed. This situation has created accumulated shortage of school buildings. The Ministry of Education solved this problem by leasing private residential buildings to serve as temporary schools. Over the years, the large difference between the established schools and the constructed buildings has increased, until the total number of leased residential buildings has reached up to (54.73%) of the total number of existing schools today. In order to reduce the problem, and increase the number of constructed schools every year, and with pressure from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education tried to reduce the construction cost of new school buildings. The reduction of the construction cost was done through the reduction of the floor area of schools, by eliminating some unnecessary educational spaces and by using cheaper building materials. This policy does not serve the cause of building the schools and therefore, the environment of education both for the teachers and the students become unpleasant. Field survey was conducted to collect data about the construction cost of newly built schools in Saudi Arabia. Also, the data collection included salaries of the staff and other administrative other educational expenses. These data was used to make a feasible study for the school buildings' construction cost and compare it with the direct educational expenses. It found that the building construction cost is less than 5% of the direct educational expense, and less than 2.5 % of the total educational expenses. The students gross floor- area- ratio were compared with its' counterpart in United States and Canada. It was found that the student gross- area- ratio in Saudi Arabia is far less than United States and Canada. Finally, some administrative obstacles were discussed. It was found that some of these obstacles might increase the construction cost and hinder the speed of construction. |
