Recommendations relating to the operational phase:

•  councils should share information such as unit construction costs and operating costs actually experienced by individual projects;

•  schools should be involved in developing the specification to minimise dissatisfaction later in the project;

•  councils should gain early feedback from users on the quality of the facilities;

•  each council should have a commissioning and monitoring regime that tests and confirms the accuracy of the provider's reports; and

•  councils should consider in advance the best options for addressing serious under-performance if it should materialise, particularly during construction.