48. The Administrative Arrangements for Block Grant Authorities require NT BGA to adopt area standards for assessment of applications for project funding.In order to be eligible to receive a capital grant, the area standards adopted by NT BGA should only be exceeded in special circumstances.
a) The current guide for global area standards used for school buildings are 6.13m2 per student for primary schools and 9.75m2 per student for secondary schools. Projects which increase the global area of a school beyond these standards will not normally be eligible for funding. Schools should seek advice from NT BGA on the application of these area standards to their projects.
b) The enrolment figures used in the area guidelines calculations will be those estimated for the first full year of use of the facility - this will normally be the year after the completion of the project.
c) For a school with multiple campuses, the calculations must be based on the combined area and enrolment figures of all the campuses.
d) To encourage protection from sunlight for children, the area of unenclosed, external covered areas (including travel) may be totally discounted for the purpose of calculating a school's total area.
e) Older schools with buildings inappropriate to today's educational needs or current enrolment levels may be discounted down to the area that buildings built today for the relevant purpose would have. This discounting may only be done after the proposed use of existing buildings has been optimised (by as much rearrangement of functions and adaptation of buildings as possible).
f) If NT BGA believes there are exceptional circumstances that should override the standard area criterion it must explain the circumstances and obtain approval from DEEWR before the application can be considered eligible.
g) Demountable buildings, which will continue to be used after the funded facilities are completed, must be included in a school's area.
h) The percentage of area standards that a school's area will be after completion of a project must be calculated in the following way:
Global guideline allowance divided by current total school area.
