Do you see what I see? (Many would see an empty office. I see a future classroom)

The challenge is greatest for areas which are largely built out, but where density is increasing. How do you infill new schools? There just aren't large chunks of land of several hectares ready to accommodate new schools with sports fields in areas already urbanised.

Back to our repurposed office building scenario. Australia is only starting to get used to the idea of vertical schools, but they've been around for a long time. This (below) is picture of the primary school I attended in Hong Kong (where I was born and raised until end of year 6). As I am now officially old, this was obviously a long time ago. The school though, like me, is still standing. Year ones were on level one, year twos on level two, and up it went. (Fun fact: Michael Hutchence of INXS attended this same school at the same time. He was three years older than me, so a couple of floors up). On the roof was a canteen and caged in play area. On ground there were play areas in under crofts, and a couple of basketball courts. No grass. We shared an oval up the road with multiple other schools, each allocated their timeslot. Somehow I managed to finish primary with an education which was possibly two years ahead of what I did in year 7 at primary school in Australia (Kenmore State). The lack of open space didn't impact my education.

In terms of building size, schools are fairly hungry users of space. Have a look my school in Hong Kong for example. Here in Australia, schools of several hundred students need roughly 10,000 square metres of floorspace. Some, like Brisbane's new vertical Fortitude Valley State Secondary School, are closer to 25,000 square metres gross floor area (it was designed for up to 1500 students and cost $100m to build).

Now, tell me how many single tenants you're aware of with a requirement of potentially 10,000m2 to 20,000m2 and who need long term leases, and you might see where I'm going with this.

But why would a school want to occupy an office building in a CBD?

Location is one reason: the CBD is probably the best served in an entire region by public transport – of all forms. That centrality also means the school could be accessed from all points of compass, meaning its physical catchment could be city wide – it isn't restricted to just one side of the city. Keep in mind that schools have traditionally been based on local catchments: back in the day, kids used to walk or cycle to school. On their own! Now, parents seem prepared to drive some distance to drop little Johnny or Mary at the school gate. Local catchments are becoming less of a consideration, especially in the non-government sector.

Lack of available sites for new schools is another driver. When you simply don't have the space in infill suburbs, what do you do? Following a well-established trend that is decades old elsewhere in the world by putting schools in central locations is a logical option.

Schools seem to benefit most from proximity of students with each other and with their teachers. Remote learning is unlikely to take off in the same way as remote working, so office buildings which offer that proximity advantage make sense.

Building design is also amendable for school use. Similar to offices, education is primarily a day use function. Shared learning spaces, shared toilets and shared facilities. Fire, building and other relevant codes that are designed for a comparable intensity of floorspace use. (Remember offices at one point got to just 8m2 per person!). No planning reasons why not, and in terms of accreditation by education authorities, potentially easier than some alternatives.