Schools should consider trying to secure sell-on agreements with developers when flogging surplus land to fund vital rebuilds, new government guidance has said. , the Department for Education鈥檚 property company, has today released a handbook to help local authorities and academy trusts 鈥渦nlock potential鈥 in their estates, amid “growing demand” for sales. It comes as documents, seen by Schools Week, show dozens of sites reviewed by the government-backed firm for redevelopment were discounted for featuring protected land and flood zones, among other things. Unions said “we’ve surely reached the bottom of the funding barrel when schools are being advised to sell off land in order to pay for capital projects”, after Schools Week revealed the guidance was to be published. But Will Attlee, LocatED’s head of estates, believes the new advice will help leaders 鈥渘avigate the development process鈥 and generate cash for 鈥渘ew or improved鈥 school buildings. Lara Newman 鈥淲hile schools and responsible bodies should always look for alternative funding options prior to disposing, development of this kind can free up resources 鈥 this will help deliver better learning environments for pupils.鈥 LocatED CEO Lara Newman added that her team has 鈥渟een growing demand from education leaders for our help in unlocking potential鈥 in their estates. 鈥淭his document provides an easy-to-use guide for schools embarking on that journey.鈥 The guidance sets out four stages to the development process, explaining how to navigate site assessments, stakeholder engagement, feasibility assessments and delivery. It recommended that in all cases 鈥渃onsideration should be given to whether overage or clawback provisions should be included as part of the deal structure鈥. Schools guidance ‘in no way advocates for land disposals’ This, the advice said, ensures 鈥渢he benefit of any future uplift in value (if, for example, the purchaser sells the site at a profit within a certain time period) is shared鈥. Meanwhile, the DfE鈥檚 land transactions team should be engaged 鈥渁s early as possible鈥 to assess early proposals and “provide pre-application advice鈥. This will 鈥渉elp inform the design in the feasibility stage and ensure that work is not abortive鈥. It also stressed that the guidance 鈥渋n no way advocates for the disposal of school land鈥. Responsible bodies 鈥 which include councils and academy trusts 鈥 are recommended to explore 鈥渁lternative funding options鈥, before deciding to sell plots. Other options include lettings and using spare space for 鈥渆nergy generation鈥. LocatED revealed last year it had been asked to assess 316 school sites with surplus land. Data obtained through Freedom of Information shows 281 were ruled out for development. Thirty were special or alternative provision schools which LocatED 鈥渃onsidered would not be appropriate for this kind of scheme鈥. A further 76 were on designated green belt or metropolitan open land, while 12 were in flood zones. It was concluded a number of other schemes would produce 鈥渋nsufficient鈥 capital receipts 鈥渢o provide a meaningful investment in the school, once costs [are] taken into consideration鈥. LocatED was later commissioned to undertake further analysis of 132 more sites, of which five were considered worthy of further consideration. Up to 10 others 鈥渕ay be possible longer-term projects鈥 where the land could be promoted through the local plan process. It was also revealed last month how the company hopes to roll out schemes that will see rundown inner-city schools operate within newly constructed blocks of flats. Officials recently completed feasibility studies on bankrolling the revamp of St James Hatcham Primary in south London through the creation of 100 homes. Its sports hall is earmarked for space across the block鈥檚 ground floor, while classrooms will be located on the level above. Affordable housing will be spread across the building鈥檚 upper floors. A LocatED spokesperson said the firm believes 鈥渢here is potential for this type of development across other sites in city centre locations鈥.