School Design Guide SDG 02-03: Post Primary School Design Guide.

SDG 02-03 is part of the Department's suite of School Design Guides, prepared by the Planning and Building Unit in Tullamore. It supersedes TGD-023, the 2008 post-primary design guidelines, which the Department's technical guidance page now lists under archive documents (its general design guidance page still links it, so make sure you are working from SDG 02-03). Together with TGD-020 General Design Guidelines and TGD-021 Construction Standards, it applies to all post-primary construction projects funded in part or in full by the Department, unless the Department directs otherwise in writing. The suite is also used to evaluate design submissions, and its standards extend to refurbishment and alteration contracts as well as new build.

There is no equivalent School Design Guide for primary schools: the Department still lists TGD-022 (Revision 3, February 2013) as its current primary design guidelines, and TGD-022 does not deal with signage. On primary projects TGD-020 Section 10 is the signage reference.

The signage clause is brief and points onward. It asks for appropriate signage across the whole school environment, sized and positioned to be clear, and refers designers to the National Disability Authority's Building for Everyone Book 4 and to the NCBI. It then refers to TGD-020 Section 10 and repeats the Official Languages Act requirement, so Irish or bilingual signage with the Irish first applies on every post-primary project.

Wayfinding comes up in more detail elsewhere. The circulation section asks for a layout that is legible and easy to understand from whichever entrance a person uses. The entrance room data sheet asks for the main entrance and lobby to be legible from the site entrance, for wayfinding signage in the entrance area that highlights key facilities, lifts, stairs, toilets and general purpose areas, and for a clear route to the passenger lift. The floor finishes section lists colour and pattern among the criteria, partly for wayfinding.

SDG 02-06 Sanitary Facilities (revised November 2021) covers primary and post-primary toilets. It asks that wayfinding reflect the amenity and function of each sanitary space, and that the wayfinding and signage method be agreed with the sanctioning authority before Stage 2A. Colour schemes for doors, walls, floors and fittings are to be agreed with the school authority before Stage 2A, in accordance with BS 8300, and the guide's illustrated layout suggests a change of floor colour at the interface with circulation to aid wayfinding. For a signage designer this means toilet signs, door colours and floor contrast are an early design decision, not a fit-out item.