Government plans to crack down on the costs of educational architecture nationally are being questioned locally – following the architectural successes of two Norwich schools.

Curved buildings are to be banned in a new generation of no-frills school buildings as the Conservative/LibDem coalition government attempts to cut school building costs by 30pc and save up to �6m per school compared to Labour's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project, which it controversially abandoned soon after coming to power.

Design templates unveiled for 261 replacement school buildings across the country prohibit folding internal partitions to subdivide classrooms, roof terraces that can be used as play areas, glazed walls and translucent plastic roofs.

The templates have been published to let architects and builders bidding for �2.5bn of contracts on new school buildings know what the government expects from schools that will be cheaper and 15pc smaller than those built under the previous government.

It is part of a plan by education secretary Michael Gove to replace the primary and secondary schools it deems to be in the worst condition as part of a five-year programme.

The templates tell architects that new schools should have square corners, ceilings left bare and buildings clad in nothing more expensive than render or metal panels above head height.

The plans are designed to cut costs, but is the government underestimating the value of modern architecture, such as the curved buildings of Open Academy, formerly Heartsease High School, and City Academy Norwich, formerly Earlham High School?

Jon Platten, principal of Open Academy, is a firm supporter of the modern architecture which his school has been fortunate to benefit from.

The �20m curved amphitheatre-style building opened in September 2010 and won a community award at the Norwich Society's 2011 Design Awards.

The school also joined a number of impressive projects from across the globe when it was recognised in the 2011 Institution of Structural Engineers' Structural Awards, with other shortlisted projects including The Helix in Singapore and the London 2012 Velodrome.

The Salhouse Road building is the UK's largest solid timber panel building and is said to have a negative carbon footprint.

Mr Platten said: 'There is no doubt that architecture has a massive effect on how schools operate. When we moved into the new building at the Open Academy, there was a palpable positive impact on behaviour. Exclusions were reduced and removals from lessons fell by 75pc. The Open Academy, like other new school builds, was designed around the idea of 'emotional literacy'. A large and spacious atrium allows students to mingle with adults; 'breakout areas' outside suites of classrooms enable flexible approaches to learning.

'Smaller buildings would seem to run the risk of 'kettling' large numbers of children at certain times of the day.'

City Academy's new buildings were opened this summer and also feature a curved main building.

A Department for Education statement about the building templates said: 'Compared to BSF these designs represent a reduction in wasted space – 15pc for secondary and 5pc for primary schools – whilst maintaining the same size teaching space, classrooms, staffrooms, sport, and art and design facilities.

'These new schools will still be bigger than secondary schools built in 2004 and primaries built in 2006.'

- Do you agree with the government's plans? Write to Evening News Letters, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, NR1 1RE or email eveningnewsletters@archant.co.uk