Educational Facilities Standards and Guidelines

We have recently launched Educational Facilities Standards and Guidelines (EFSG) v2.0 across two new websites. The new EFSG platforms have been designed to provide clear guidance on the design principles and requirements for new and upgraded schools. These requirements consolidate DoE’s vision to align the design of our learning environments with the wisdom and research of educational practice.

The new Education Facilities Standards and Guidelines | Technical Standards website enables our key collaborators and delivery partners to access an agile and concise set of technical standards, detailing the high standards of design and construction required to build robust and world-class educational facilities for our communities.

The release of EFSG Technical Standards v2.0 has provided a more readily accessible platform to access the existing design and technical standards required to design our schools. Specifically, this update includes the migration of data and information from the legacy EFSG website. Construction components of the technical standards are categorised into Worksections, complementing the National Building Specification (NATSPEC), and providing supplementary clauses specific to school projects.

• Please refer to 00 Planning and Design (nsw.gov.au) for all legacy Design Guides (DGs)
• Please see legacy Specification Guides (SGs) migrated into the rest of the NATSPEC worksections under Browse Worksections (nsw.gov.au)
• Kit of Parts will progressively replace all legacy Room and Spaces data sheets

If you or any colleagues have difficulties logging into the EFSG Technical Standards website please see the key points below:

Internal DoE Staff

• Login from Technical Standards
• Tip!: For quick access, dd EFSG and EFSG Technical Standards apps to your DoE staff profile l Home - Staff Portal - Department of Education
• Tip!: Go to SINSW Knowledge Centre for website links

External Providers

• Login from Technical Standards as an external provider. You need to reregister to gain access. To successfully register, you need to ensure that you are registered as a supplier in the Supplier Hub: Welcome to the Supplier Hub | buy.nsw
• Provide the relevant Treign project code when prompted under ‘School Infrastructure project code’

If you are still experiencing difficulties and are unable to login, please email us at efsg-support@det.nsw.edu.au, and include any screenshots of error messages you may receive.

Our technical team has been working hard to resolve these issues We appreciate your feedback on any other issues you may experience, so that our technical team can resolve these as soon as possible.

There is no change to existing processes for applying new updates to existing projects. This will depend on the stage of your project.

Projects in delivery phases (post business case approval)

There is no mandatory requirement to apply updated requirements in this stage. However, project teams are encouraged to apply minor updates to benefit projects, where this can be achieved without introducing other project impacts. Exceptions to this are for any updates which ensure compliance with changes to Australian Standards, National Construction Code or as directed by the Chief Executive SINSW.

Projects in planning phases (early design and business case development)

Projects in early planning stages are required to comply with current EFSG requirements, including new updates. Individual projects may apply for exemption, requiring justification based on project constraints, and subject to review by SINSW Design and Infrastructure Standards (DaIS) team. In these instances, project teams may seek direction through processes governed by relevant EFSG Governance procedures. Please refer to the EFSG Governance Process.

Through the migration of information from the legacy EFSG website (version 1.0) to the new EFSG website (version 2.0), all the DGs and SGs have been migrated to relevant sections under NATSPEC nomenclature. Room datasheets were not migrated as they did not align with standardised hub layouts. Kit of Parts (KoP) development will progressively replace technical data sheets information with room data sheets which will be available in KoP section of Technical Standards website.

For projects tendered or under construction prior to the EFSG 2.0 launch, please refer to the technical data sheets dated 30 March 2022 under the Archive section of the Technical Standards website. https://education.nsw.gov.au/technical-standards/archive This is an uncontrolled copy to be used as a historical reference only. We make no representations, warranties, or assurances as to the accuracy, currency or completeness of the content contain in this archive or any links it has to files. Its relevance and currency must be checked against the current EFSG websites | Education Facilities Standards and Guidelines | Technical Standards prior to using the information in the archive for any purposes.

To access the Archive, please download the relevant zip file and use the "ToC.txt" note to navigate the pdfs within each zip file.

Please see below a copy of the archive files available for download:

Design Guides (ZIP 15MB)

Specification Guides (ZIP 13MB)

DG and SG Drawings (ZIP 12MB)

General Resources (ZIP 9MB)

High School Room Data Sheets (ZIP 134MB)

Primary Room Data Sheets (ZIP 94MB)

Schools for Special Purposes Room Data Sheets (ZIP 58MB)

Please note that project contractual documentation should be relied on in the first instance. Projects should comply with EFSG requirements at the time of tender.

Our technical team has been working to resolve known issues. Please be patient as these are resolved. Your feedback is appreciated, so please email our support team efsg-support@det.nsw.edu.au if you encounter any issues, so that we can address these.