Design standards: employer's requirements, Technical Manual (school and college buildings).

The Technical Manual is one of the documents that make up the DfE's design standards, the employer's requirements for the design and construction of school and college buildings and outdoor environments in England. They form the employer's requirements for the School buildings: construction framework 2025 and are aimed at local authorities, academy trusts, governing bodies, college leaders and the technical professionals who design and build for them. The manual is dated January 2026 and was published on GOV.UK in February 2026 alongside a pattern book, schedules of accommodation and information requirements.

Earlier school design guidance from the DfE included the Generic Design Brief and output specifications for previous programmes. Check which version your contract names.

Signage appears in several places. The fittings, furniture and equipment chapter covers general signage, internal door signs for every space, fire safety signs, drinking water labelling and hazard warning signs. The external works chapter covers information and wayfinding signage and interpretive signage for nature areas, both specified as aluminium panels on steel legs with anti-vandal fixings and accessible text and graphics. The fire safety chapter repeats the requirements for fire signs and refuge signs.

Movement and wayfinding also appear in the design narrative: the siting of lifts, stairs and circulation is expected to support a wayfinding strategy for the site, for both everyday use and emergencies.

The manual sits on top of the Building Regulations. Approved Document M Volume 2 and Approved Document B Volume 2 still apply, and the manual references both. Its signage clauses are short because they lean on British Standards rather than setting dimensions of their own.

In Ireland the Department of Education's TGD-020 does the same job for primary and post-primary schools, with more specific tactile and Irish language requirements.